Double delight at Christmas for Cork jockey Paul Townend 

Lisgoold’s Paul Townend landed the two biggest prizes of the festive period with Banbridge winning the King George at Kempton and Galopin Des Champs putting in a sensational performance to outclass his rivals in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown. 

With four days of brilliant racing on both sides of the Irish sea there was plenty of talking points with Constitution Hill, Sir Gino, Home By The Lee and Brighterdaysahead also grabbing the headlines with very impressive victories over the holidays. 

But Galopin Des Champs was breath-taking and will now travel to Cheltenham as a very short priced favourite to complete a third consecutive Gold Cup victory and emulate Best Mate. 

Townend was at his brilliant best aboard Banbridge and judged the pace to absolute perfection before powering to victory in the King George on St Stephen’s Day. 

The Joseph O’Brien trained chaser looks a prime candidate to run in the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival where he disappointed last March.

Sir Gino stormed to the head of the Arkle betting market at Cheltenham after a scintillating round of jumping in the two mile novice chase at Kempton. 

Owned by Joe and Marie Donnelly from Cork and purchased by Ballinora native Jerry McGrath this horse has always had a lofty reputation which was outlined on these pages by McGrath earlier in the season. 

But Sir Gino really was imperious and left the highly regarded Ballyburn trailing in his wake and likely to step up in trip. 

The Champion Hurdle picture became a lot clearer after Constitution Hill got back to winning ways in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton. 

He convincingly defeated Lossiemouth and has now gone on odds on for the Champion Hurdle at headquarters in March. 

Another superstar owned by the Donnelly’s is State Man but the reigning Champion Hurdler was completely outclassed by Brighterdaysahead at Leopardstown. 

To be fair to State Man, there were a number of horses trained by Willie Mullins that ran below par over the holidays so a line will be drawn through this run. 

State Man is likely to reappear at the Dublin Racing Festival in early February and is well capable of getting his season back on track.

Spillane’s Tower was the only disappointing horse over Christmas and finished in fifth place in the King George Chase at Kempton Park. 

Conna based trainer Jimmy Mangan is one of the most popular characters in the game and will do everything to get Spillane’s Tower back on track. 

His stable star was a dual Grade One-winning novice over fences last season, the six-year-old made a hugely encouraging start to the new campaign when splitting Fact To File and his stablemate Galopin Des Champs in the John Durkan at Punchestown. 

Spillane’s Tower was sent off favourite for Kempton’s festive showpiece. A trip to the Irish Gold Cup in early February will certainly be an option with softer ground conditions also likely to be a major positive.

The aptly name Home By The Lee has been a terrific horse for the O’Driscoll family and put his name firmly in the Stayers Hurdle picture with a convincing victory at Leopardstown. 

Jockey JJ Slevin is just back from injury, but he got the fractions spot on with a perfectly timed challenge. 

Home By The Lee is trained by Joseph O’Brien who really is a brilliant trainer and a trip back to Cheltenham now looks a certainty after this latest victory. 

The Gordon Elliot trained Teahupoo is the short priced favourite for this and is the defending champion. However, Slevin was adamant after the race that his horse is a huge player and has run poorly at Cheltenham in the past due to a poor tactical ride. 

Home By The Lee on his day is a serious player and will have plenty of support on Leeside.

Finally , the action continues this weekend with a couple of very important Graded contests at Naas. 

The Lawlor’s of Naas Novice Hurdle has always been a highly significant contest over two and a half miles with Jasmin De Vaux, Ballygunner Castle, Butch Cassidy and The Yellow Clay among the entries. 

The novice hurdle picture is likely to be a lot clearer after this contest. 

There is also a Grade 2 Novice Chase over two miles with some of our best horses doing battle, Firefox, Ile Atlantique, Majborough and Inthepocket. 

With Sir Gino looking exceptional across the water it will be fascinating to see how this race works out.