Irish Arkle Individual Horse Profiles & Notes

Top class racing at Leopardstown today, with small but talented fields in both of the Grade 1 contests – just three horses, all of them very real Arkle Trophy contenders go to post in the Irish Arkle. By creating profiles for each of the horses based on their career runs to date, we can determine whether the conditions tomorrow will suit them…

Gilgamboa

• Career Record: 7 runs – 5 wins – 1 place
• 1 win from 1 run at Leopardstown (in the Grade 2 2m Boylesports.com Hurdle in January 2014)
• 5-5-0 on yielding to soft or worse – 2-0-1 on good to soft or better, so the softer the ground, the better - Soft
• Jockeys: Niall Madden 1-1-0, AP McCoy 1-0-0, Mark Walsh 5-4-1 – AP McCoy
• The one occasion on which he was unplaced was on his sole Grade 1 start. – Grade 1
• 3-3-0 in fields of 7 or less – 3 runners
• Won on both his starts within 30 days of his last run, both of his losses came between 31 and 60 days of his last start. – 30 days since his last run
• Losses came on tracks classed as undulating and very undulating, with a record of 2-2-0 on tracks with slight undulations and flat tracks. – Flat track

Gilgamboa has taken fantastically to fences

Gilgamboa finished off a strong season novice hurdling last year slightly disappointingly, finishing 13^th in the Supreme Novices at Cheltenham. Following this, the decision was made to go chasing, and he has taken to fences fantastically, with a win in a Beginners Chase in November followed by an impressive victory in a Grade 2 at Limerick on St Stephens Day. His preference for soft ground is a positive, McCoy’s lack of success on him in the past is not necessarily a worry considering that it was in the toughest start of his career. His success in small fields after a short break and good record on flat tracks are encouraging factors.

Un De Sceaux

• Career Record: 7 runs – 6 wins – 0 places
• Never ran at Leopardstown
• Only loss was on soft ground, but 100% records on soft to heavy and heavy mean that a fall on soft ground is not a worry. - Soft
• 6-6-0 over 2m, loss came over 2m 2mf – 2m 1f
• Jockeys: Ruby Walsh 7-6-0 – Ruby Walsh
• Loss came in a larger field (16 runners) – 3 runners
• Loss came after 285 days off the track – does he tend to have cobwebs to shake off? – 36 days since his last run
• Only one run to date on left-handed tracks (a win) – Left-handed

Un De Sceaux was very impressive on his second chasing start

Unbeaten over hurdles last year, his season climaxed with a Grade 3 win in Auteil (his two starts in bumpers before arriving in Mullins’ yard and this start in Auteil were not included in the statistics above). His chasing career got off to a shaky start, when he fell three out in a beginner’s chase after drawing clear after the fourth fence. He made up for it when winning with ease at Fairyhouse just before Christmas, earning favouritism for the Arkle Trophy at the Cheltenham festival. The facts that we probably want him to run in a smaller field and after a short break are both positives.

Clarcam

• Career Record: 13 runs – 4 wins – 7 places
• 2-1-1 at Leopardstown (win came in the Grade 1 RacingPost Novices Chase on St Stephens Day, and he was 2^nd in a Grade 2 Juvenile Hurdle at the same fixture in 2013).
• Record is slightly better on softer ground (5-2-3 on yielding to soft or worse, 8-2-4 on good to yielding or better). - Soft
• Jockeys: Bryan Cooper 4-2-1, Noel Fehily 1-0-0, A E Lynch 1-0-1, Jason Maguire 1-0-1, Davy Russell 5-1-4, Kevin Sexton 1-1-0 – Bryan Cooper
• Never unplaced in Grade 1 or 2 races (2-1-1 in Grade 1’s, 1-0-1 in Grade 2’s). – Grade 1
• Best record is in smaller fields; 4-3-1 in fields of 7 or less compared to 9-1-6 in fields of 8 or more – 3 runners
• 2-2-0 after 15 or less days off the track, 9-1-6 after 16-60 days off and 2-1-1 after 121+ days off; so having had a very recent run or being fresh both seem to be of advantage to him – 30 days since his last run
• Never ran in January but only ever unplaced at the end of the season; 10-4-6 from September to February and 3-0-1 in March and April – January

Clarcam has made good progress in his three chasing starts to date, and looks to be progressing into a smart chaser having beaten Vautour on his last start on St Stephens Day in the RacingPost Novices Chase. Looking a decent type on that day on very tough ground, he does hold chances in this today despite it being an extremely competitive contest. Almost all of his profile fits today’s race.