Fermoy's Charlie McCarthy has favourite for opening race at Cheltenham
Kopek Des Bordes and Patrick Mullins win for owner Charlie McCarthy with sons CJ, David and daughter-in-law Dee. Picture: Healy Racing
The Cheltenham Festival kicks off today and Cork punters have latched on to the local horse Kopek Des Bordes, who runs in the opening Michael O’Sullivan Supreme Novice Hurdle.
What a story it would be for Fermoy owner Charlie McCarthy who teams up with Paul Townend and Willie Mullins.
All the vibes about the favourite are strong and once he gets over the preliminaries Paul Townend is sure to give this horse every chance.
The vibes from the Mullins camp are very strong and they rarely get it wrong.
Excitement has been building in Fermoy with such a high-profile favourite.
There are plenty of similarities to the Un De Sceaux days and well-known Fermoy publican Aidan Kerins has looked after the Cheltenham previews for many years has never seen anything like the build-up in a locality steeped in racing.
“Fermoy is buzzing, and everyone is just hoping the McCarthy's horse can do the business.
"Kopek Des Bordes was sensational the last day and when you hear someone like Ted Walsh being blown away by his performance you know he has superstar potential," Kerins said.
"Obviously, to win at this level we need everything to go right and hopefully we will be parading the horse over the bridge here in Fermoy later in the week.
The Champion Hurdle is the feature race on the opening day and what a mouth-watering Anglo-Irish clash we have in store between the Nicky Henderson-trained Constitution Hill and the young pretender Brighterdaysahead for Gordon Elliot and Jack Kennedy.
It promises to be a cracker with the former champion Constitution Hill the most popular horse in England.
But Brighterdaysahead put in a sensational performance to claim the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown and looks more than capable of troubling the favourite.
State Man is the defending champion for Cork man Joe Donnelly and will have the assistance of the champion jockey Paul Townend.
Elsewhere on the card JP McManus can get his Cheltenham off to a winning start with Majborough in the Arkle Novice Chase.
McManus has an army of fancied horses across the week and the famed green and gold silks are sure to be seen plenty of times in the winner’s enclosure.
Gavin Cromwell is a trainer making massive strides and there has been plenty of chat about his juvenile hurdler Total Look in the Fred Winter.
The Mares Hurdle has been dominated by Mullins with Lossiemouth and Townend can claim victory here after a late switch from the Champion Hurdle.
Finally, there will be plenty of local interest throughout the week with Terrence O’Brien’s Answer To Kayf running in a novice handicap chase while the aptly named Home By The Lee runs in the Stayers Hurdle also on Thursday afternoon.
Unfortunately, the Jimmy Mangan-trained Spillane’s Tower has been a late withdrawal and will run at Aintree.
The Gold Cup takes centre-stage on Friday with Galopin Des Champs and Paul Townend hoping to join the greats with three Gold Cups in a row.
It promised to some week, for the Lisgoold rider
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