By Bill Esdaile
AS WE know, predicting which race Willie Mullins will choose for some of his horses is about as easy as solving a Rubik’s Cube.
And that’s very much the case with Ballyburn, whose Cheltenham Festival target is still unknown and that doesn’t make betting on the Supreme or Gallagher Novices’ Hurdles easy.
For what it’s worth, I think he’ll end up in the longer race especially if the ground dries up and, in all honesty, I expect he’ll take all the beating wherever he turns up as he looks a horse who could go right to the top.
I do hope he goes to the Gallagher because my final ante-post tip in this column will run in the Supreme and that’s MISTERGIF.
Almost every year, there’s a Mullins-trained horse in this race that slips under the radar and runs much better than his price suggests, and I have a feeling it could be this lad this year.
He’s only been seen once since joining the Closutton yard from France, but it was hard not to be impressed as he absolutely bolted up by 18 lengths in a maiden hurdle at Limerick.
Granted this is a huge step up in class, but he’s a horse who very much fits into the ‘could be anything’ category and at 16/1 with Grosvenor Sport, he looks a really nice price for a horse as unexposed as him.
He’ll be played late to hit the frame and given it doesn’t look the strongest Supreme in recent years, I wouldn’t be surprised if the money does come for him.
He’ll certainly shorten up if Ballyburn does divert to the Gallagher, so quotes of 16/1 could look very nice indeed come next Tuesday afternoon.
POINTERS CHELTENHAM
Mistergif e/w Supreme
