Handicap weights for the £75,000 Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeplechase at next month’s Cheltenham Festival were released today, completing another piece of the Crystal Cup jigsaw for this ninth leg, in which a strong French or Irish challenge could have a significant impact upon the leaderboard. The 31 entries must also whittle down to a maximum field of 16.

Short-priced favourite Stumptown heads the weights off a top weight of 11st 10 (74.5kg) on the back of his winning performance in the corresponding Crystal Cup leg at Cheltenham back in December, and trainer Gavin Cromwell has a superb record at Cheltenham. He had stablemate Vanillier well beaten on that occasion and a previous run over Punchestown’s banks, and there is little reason to suppose form will be reversed. Vanillier is one of several headed for the Grand National in this field. Winning or placed runs for both would put Cromwell in a challenger position in the Crystal Cup leaderboard.

Second favourite is Galvin, part of a strong Gordon Elliott team for the Festival at large, and owned by potato magnate Ronnie Bartlett. Galvin hasn’t been seen since just losing out by a neck to Snap Decision on an enterprising trip to Far Hills in the US back in October. However, his 8 1/2l fourth in last April’s Grand National proves this trip will not worry him, and he has plenty of experience of these obstacles from two runs in last season’s Cheltenham cross country chases. On the basis of his National form, he has the measure of other candidates Roi Mage, Coko Beach, Latenightpass, Vanillier and Chemical Energy.

The cross country genre is not a regular haunt for Nicky Henderson, but Mister Coffey has shaped well in two runs over these fences this season, finishing second on both occasions, the latest in December when failing by a length to Stumptown when in receipt of 9lbs. With the weights favouring him  by a further 6lbs now, this may be an excellent opportunity to lose his maiden status over fences.

Busselton makes little appeal, whilst Latenightpass has struggled to recapture the form that won him two autumn handicaps over course and distance in 2023. He is well in against Stumptown on the form of his 4 1/4l third in December if he can run to his top rating.

Three French runners remain among the entries, all trained by David Cottin, who has experience of winning at Cheltenham as a trainer and rider. A plan to test Iceo Madrik over this course in December backfired when rider Felix de Giles was unseated early, but the 7  year old is already a winner of a listed cross country at Compiegne in November, leg 6 of the Crystal Cup. His 16/1 price belies his chances.

Cottin has left Placenet entered, but even off a long handicap weight of 9st 11, he has ground to make up. Assuming the top weight stays in, he will be running at 10st 5, 8lb out of the handicap. the same is also the case for Motu Fareone. A strong showing from Cottin runners would put him in a strong challenging position for Crystal Cup honours with two French races still to come before the Challenge concludes.

Roi Mage, a French-bred trained by Patrick Griffin in Ireland, is one of this select few to have been campaigned almost exclusively on the continent. Although behind Iceo Madrik at Compiegne, he was a comprehensive winner at Craon back in September, and looks value at 25/1. He is likely to swerve a return to Aintree in favour of the Irish Grand National. He should run well here under James Reveley.

The Elliott challenge includes a further 5, the best of which are the Gigginstown pair of Coko Beach and Conflated, who will share top weight with Stumptown. Delta Work won this off 11st 10 as a conditions event last time around, but giving weight all round may be a tall ask for Conflated. Coko Beach’s distant second to Vanillier over the Punchestown banks in early Febraury still leaves him something to find but he may be the best chance for Gigginstown to continue their outstanding success in this race.

Amongst the rest, Iwilldoit may be the springer. His 3l third to Val Dancer in the Welsh National in December was a solid run, and trainer Sam Thomas has become adept at correctly placing his horses in big handicaps.

The next scratching is on March 6th, which will see the field reduce to something nearer is final make-up, together with a majority of jockey bookings.

Delta Work, twice a winner of the Glenfarclas Cross Country at the Cheltenham Festival, has died after a bout of colic. He had been one of three Gigginstown Stud entries in the ninth leg of the Crystal Cup.

His stellar career included five Grade I chases , including an Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown in 2020, but in latter years, he saved his best for Cheltenham, winning the Pertemps Final in 2028, the cross country in 2022 and 2023. The 2022 victory was at the expense of another Gigginstown favourite in Tiger Roll, three times a winner of the same race. The 7/1 offered about Delta Work’s chances of adding a third cross country in 3 weeks indicated his popularity among the racing audience.

At the age of 12, it might be argued his best days were behind him, but a second to I Am Maximus in last April’s Randox Grand National belied that. This was a horse with  a real zest for the sport.

Trainer Gordon Elliott told the Racing Post, “Everyone here is gutted by the news. He was such a huge favourite of the yard and he gave us so many memorable days over so many seasons. As a five time Grade I winner and a triple Cheltenham Festival winner, he was everything you could hope for in a racehorse.”

Entries for the ninth leg of the Crystal Cup at Cheltenham next month, and likely its most competitive to date, closed today, with 31 throwing their hat in the ring for Festival glory. Despite the race’s reversion to handicap status, there is a familiar look to the headline acts for the Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeplechase (A Handicap) over 3m 5f, many of whom are headed for Aintree’s Grand National showpiece in April.

Stumptown, winner here in December, heads the market at a miserly 5/2, with weights due to be published on February 26th. He is one of two entries from Gavin Cromwell, one of 7 Irish trainers showing interest in the £75,000 contest, the other,Vanillier, fresh from overturning Coko Beach over the Punchestown banks in early February. They are 2 among 16 Irish entries, half the field. It’s a rare Festival contest without a Willie Mullins entry.

Gigginstown is well represented with a triumvirate of stars, although perhaps it must be said they are all past their peak. Led by Delta Work, who carried 11st 4lb to a 7 1/2l second place in last year’s Grand National, the 12 year old was last seen a distant fourth to L’Homme Pressé in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in January.

He may well be joined by Coko Beach, outpointed by Vanillier at Punchestown but a leading candidate in the Velka Pardubicka back in October before unseating, and Conflated, who has been running in exalted company all season. This drop in class may be sufficient to see him finish in the frame for the first time this season over obstacles he prefers to orthodox fences. Gigginstown have been a vociferous opponent of the change in the race conditions; perhaps not so surprising after their considerable success with Tiger Roll, but they’ve never been afraid to pitch their horses into a fight.

Notable among the entries too is the Patrick Griffin-trained Roi Mage, who has followed an orthodox cross country route to this race through Corlay, Craon, and Compiegne. At 25/1, he may well represent excellent value subject to his weight, and is deemed worthwhile enough for champion French rider James Reveley to travel over. Putting in a good showing here would cement his credentials for the Leading Horse Award in the Crystal Cup.

Gordon Elliott’s six-strong team includes Galvin, another whose preparation for this race might seem unorthodox, his only run this season over hurdles 4,000miles away in Far Hills, New Jersey, last October, when he went down by a neck to star US jumper Snap Decision. Galvin’s no stranger to these obstacles however. Two honourable runs over the cross country obstacles in the autumn of ’23 preceded fourth behind I Am Maximus in the ’24 Randox Grand National.

Latenightpass excelled in cross country races last season, but has found a winning thread rather more elusive this time around. He should be well weighted however on the basis of his recent form, whilst Mister Coffey has excellent form over these fences, despite still being a maiden in steeplechases after 15 runs.

David Cottin has entered three, providing a continental flavour to the race. Placenet won the opening Grand Steeplechase de Flandres back in August but was cruelly exposed when stepping up to Grade I company by Gran Diose in the Prix de la Haye Jousselin at Auteuil in November. Motu Fareone has never run over this extended distance, whilst Iceo Madrik came to Cheltenham in December well fancied after a brace of wins at Compiegne, one the listed Crystal Cup leg, only to unseat early in the contest – an inconclusive visit. He has scope to deliver off a low weight.

It’s difficult to make a case for any of the remainder, who look well exposed in this company, even though they include hoary old favourites like Back On The Lash, French Dynamite and Fakir d’Oudairies. Their chances would be enhanced by the top weights dropping out after the weights are published at the end of the month.

Competition for this year’s Crystal Cup is intensifying following the running of leg 8 at Pau this past weekend. And whilst it’s not on the cards that Emanuel Clayeux will send hat-trick winner of Pau’s big cross country to Cheltenham, there are other candidates lining up.

The conditions of this year’s 3m6f race (5,885m) have been changed back to a handicap from a level weights contest, affording runners in each of Cheltenham’s previous two cross country chases in the autumn and early winter a cut at a Festival prize. For the past 10 years, the race has been a conditions event, letting in highly rated horses like Minella Indo, Delta Work and Tiger Roll to clean up.

Whilst the stables of Josef Vana, Patrice Quinton and David Cottin dominate the Trainers’ race for Crystal Cup glory on the back of contributions by several horses, one stable is aiming at Festival success by dint of a single runner.

That runner is Roi Mage, whose unorthodox preparation in British and Irish eyes, could stand him in very good stead in March. Currently rated 145, Roi Mage has raced more frequently in France than in England these past 12 months, narrowly beaten at Corlay in June, winning at Craon in September, and a well-beaten fifth behind Iceo Madrik at Compiegne in November.

Iceo Madrik ran in Cheltenham’s December cross country with an inconclusive result, falling at the fourth in a  race where he was hoping to get a handicap mark. Six days earlier, Sweet David had won a cross country at Cheltenham, sidestepping Iceo Madrik. Roi Mage had previously beaten Sweet David handsomely at Craon.

James Griffin, who has masterminded his stable star’s efforts abroad, told the Racing Post,

“He won at Craon and went back to Compiegne but it proved one race too many as he hadn’t a break since the 2023 Grand National, plus he’s been to France three times since that,” said Griffin. “He got a break for seven weeks after and came back in the week of Christmas.

James Reveley and Roi Mage are led in after their listed win at Craon in September

“He’s 13 but he’s fresh for his age mileage-wise. He’ll go straight to Cheltenham and has an entry in the Grand National but we might lean towards the Irish National instead.”

A solid run at Cheltenham by Roi Mage, Sweet David or Iceo Madrik  would re-inforce Cheltenham’s attraction as a cross country venue, and put the Roi Mage bang in contention for the Leading Horse category of the Crystal Cup, which he already leads.

Hip Hop Conti illustrated his supremacy over Pau’s fearsome cross country obstacles with a peerless third consecutive victory in the Grand Cross de Pau yesterday, seeing off all comers to win by 3 1/2l under James Reveley.

The King of Pau’s cross country feature, this was among the easiest of Hip Hop Conti’s three victories in this race, and at eight, who is to say he doesn’t have another two at least to add? His rivals currently struggle to lay a glove on him.

Winner of 12 of his 25 starts, the gelding, bred by owner Patrick Joubert, enjoys a particular association with Pau, where he is a winner of 11 of those contests. In fact, he’s only ever won at Nancy, and trainer Emanuel Clayeux holds him back solely for the Pau winter season. Sadly it seems unlikely the Crystal Cup will be blessed by his presence in our other races.

Jumping off alongside chief rival Saint Godefroy, Hip Hop Conti soon took up the lead, with Ici Avrilly and Illico in close contention, Riskman next of the remainder. Seven year old Ici Avrilly, running for the first time over this extended distance, made a mistake at the fourth, but the order remained virtually unchanged for the first half of the race, I’m Walkin’ tailed off from the bulk of the field.

At the 19th, Saint Godefroy was less than foot perfect, but with no obvious loss of momentum, and de Giles sent him up the inner to challenge 5 out, briefly leading. Reveley was having none of it however, and kicked on again on the favourite, rapidly asserting by 3l.

As they turned out of the country, with three to jump, it was the younger Ici Avrilly who looked the danger under Baptiste Leclerc, but as soon as they entered the straight, it was over. Hip Hop Conti stays all day, and had a burst of speed to see off the one-paced Ici Avrilly, who couldn’t quicken past him. Old rival Saint Godefroy was 8l back, Illico on his flank.

Jockey James Reveley surrounded by Crystal Cup members, from left, Jean-Louis Foursans-Bourdette, (Pau), Frederic Landon (Fontainebleau), Andre Martin (Lion d’Angers), Jean de Cheffontaines (Compiegne), Hugues Crosnier (Craon) & Mario Pirone (Merano)

The result has little effect on the Crystal Cup leaderboard, leaving Josef Vana still in pole position. By dint of his third and fifth placed horses, Patrice Quinton moves to within 5pts, and could consolidate this if running at Cheltenham or Fontainebleau. The latter is a likely target for the Vana stable too.