Dysart Enos delighting in countdown to Cheltenham

Nick Robson
February 27, 2024 2:38 pm

Fergal O’Brien’s mare ready to do battle with Irish big guns.

Fergal O’Brien feels Dysart Enos has enjoyed the perfect preparation ahead of her bid to see off a formidable Irish challenge at the Cheltenham Festival next month.

The Malinas mare has yet to taste defeat in six starts under rules, with her three wins of last season supplemented by a hat-trick of victories over hurdles.

O’Brien’s team went to GBP 95,000 to secure Dysart Enos’ services at the Goffs UK Aintree sale two years ago and the Ravenswell Farm handler had high hopes from the moment the hammer went down.

A stablehand with Dysart Enos (Adam Davy/PA)

“Dysart has been phenomenal for us, she’s six from six and we loved her when we bought her,” he said.

“From day one I felt we had a good horse because Noel Fehily was underbidder and he and David Crosse are very shrewd judges. Noel actually brought her back from Aintree for us and rang me up and said ‘are you sure you’ve got someone for this mare’ and I said we definitely did!”

Seven months after being bought Dysart Enos made a winning debut under rules at Ludlow before getting the better of the highly-regarded Queens Gamble in Listed company at Market Rasen.

But it was her nine-length success in the Grade Two mares’ bumper at Aintree’s Grand National meeting that marked her down as a potential top-notcher.

O’Brien added: “The day we bought her I never envisaged this mare would take us where she has. To turn up at Ludlow on the first day, Connor (Brace) gave her a lovely ride and it’s very difficult to drop in behind 14 others at Ludlow and come through and beat the geldings and that race worked out well.

“We genuinely went to Market Rasen thinking we’d finish second to Queens Gamble. Paddy (Brennan) gave her a lovely ride, but I felt Market Rasen probably suited her and she had the speed for it.

“We rolled on to Aintree and that is where she really blew us away. It was a very good field, the form has worked out very well and she was phenomenal that day, the way she travelled through the race and Paddy was able to put her where he wanted.

“As soon as they got inside the last furlong and a half he was able to let her go and the way she opened up and quickened away from them was spectacular.”

Paddy Brennan celebrates winning at Aintree aboard Dysart Enos (David Davies/The Jockey Club)

Dysart Enos made a smooth transition to the jumping game at Huntingdon in November and the route she has taken since has been slightly unorthodox.

Rather than sticking to her own sex in Listed and graded races, she has gained some valuable experience of Cheltenham, beating the boys in December, before landing cramped odds in another novice event at Doncaster last month.

“Jumping hurdles we’ve planned our route to Cheltenham, rightly or wrongly,” said O’Brien.

“We’re going there without a 5lb penalty, which most winners have over the last few years, but we just felt if we could get away without having a 5lb penalty then surely that’s got to be better.

Crambo and Dysart Enos (right). Two live chances for @FOBRacing pic.twitter.com/ITwlidShly
— Nick Robson (@ValueRacingPlus) February 27, 2024

“The plan was always to start off at Huntingdon and then go to Newbury for the Listed race and none of the owners were at Cheltenham when she won, so I was very grateful they let us run there.

“She can be a bit hot and stressy, so it was important for her to go and see Cheltenham and have a walk round that paddock and come up that hill and see what’s in front of her.

“Hopefully we can get her there in one piece and I think if we do she’ll be in the mix.”

Despite her unbeaten record, Dysart Enos is only third in the betting for the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, with Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead and the Willie Mullins-trained Jade De Grugy also yet to taste defeat.

O’Brien respects the claims of both, but does not fear either.

Dysart Enos on her way to victory at Cheltenham (Simon Marper/PA)

He added: “Gordon’s horse does look phenomenal and Willie’s horse looks great, but there’s a couple of English horses there I wouldn’t rule out, Queens Gamble being one and Jeremy Scott’s horse (Golden Ace), who I was so impressed with round Taunton.

“We’ve ticked a lot of boxes as we’ve been round Cheltenham and she’s got a lot of speed. You’re hoping Gordon’s horse might want two and a half (miles) and we’ll have the legs on that one, that’s what we’re hoping anyway – you’ve got to cling to some bit of hope when Willie’s and Gordon’s horses are coming over!

“We certainly wouldn’t change anything that we’ve done this season. We’ll see on the day and give it our best shot.”

While Dysart Enos and Stayers’ Hurdle candidate appear the trainer’s two chief Festival contenders, he has a couple of others who could join them on the short trip to Prestbury Park.

Springtime Promise is three from three since joining O’Brien, most recently landing a Grade Two at Sandown, and may line up alongside Dysart Enos in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle if conditions are testing, while Teorie is considered a lively outsider in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.

Fergal O'Brien has a small but select team for this year's Cheltenham Festival — Fergal O’Brien has a small but select team for this year’s Cheltenham Festival (Adam Davy/PA)

“It would want to come up soft or worse for Springtime Promise to run. She won over two and a half the other day at Sandown on heavy ground and she could go to Fairyhouse at Easter if it came up soft there,” said the trainer.

“We’ll take it right up to the day and see what the weather does. If it turned up soft she would have a fantastic chance as we haven’t seen the bottom of that mare yet and I could see her coming up that hill in great style.

“I love Teorie, I think he’s got a great attitude. He’s a big price, but he’s in great form. He disappointed a little bit at Musselburgh, but he won very well first time out and then he beat older horses next time at Southwell.

“He’s got a great attitude and loves racing and loves being a racehorse – he loves being amongst them.

“I’m hoping he’ll run very well.”