Cheltenham Festival
2.02.2010
There's absolutely no doubt that Dunguib is seen by many in the racing tips community on both sides of the Irish Sea as one of the Cheltenham Festival, so nothing less than another sparkling performance will suffice when he runs at Leopardstown on Saturday.
Philip Fenton's seven-year-old Presenting gelding has looked top class since winning last season's Cheltenham Festival Bumper, routing his rivals time and again over timber and having never looked threatened during any of his four hurdles victories, including in Grade 1 company at Fairyhouse last time out.
Another convincing success would surely add weight to the argument of those who have suggested that Fenton's charge should bypass the Supreme Novices' Hurdle and head for the biggest prize of all, the Champion Hurdle.
For his part, Fenton has to this point stressed the strength of the opposition in the Champion Hurdle and made it clear that he still intends to go the novices route at Cheltenham.
It's hard to find any flaws in Dunguib's profile and even harder to envisage him meeting defeat at Leopardstown this weekend. If he does have an Achilles heel though, it might be the fact that he has never raced on ground faster than good to soft.
If the ground at Cheltenham was good or faster (which is not completely unknown) then there might be problems, but otherwise, barring a fall or any other unexpected happening, the opening race of the four-day festival looks at Dunguib's mercy.
However, I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to take the 5/4 currently on offer for Dunguib to win the Supreme Novices' as with six weeks still to go another contender could potentially emerge on the horizon.
Also, it's almost impossible to imagine a horse starting odds-on in the opening race of the Cheltenham Festival with bookmakers surely fired up and ready to take on Dunguib in the hope of getting a flying start to the fixture.
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