Mares' Novices' Hurdle Odds: Brandy Love the new favourite as Allegorie De Vassy ruled out
Willie Mullins has ruled Mares' Novices' Hurdle ante-post favourite Allegorie De Vassy out of the Cheltenham Festival, and it now means that stablemate Brandy Love is the clear market leader for the 2m 1f Grade 2, which takes place on March 17...
Having launched to the head of the betting following a sparkling three length victory in the Grade 3 Solerina Mares' Novices' Hurdle at Fairyhouse in January, Allegorie De Vassy was expected to be one of the leading Irish bankers of the week, but Mullins has reported that the five-year-old has a bone clip, and is ruled out of Cheltenham in two weeks.
Behind Allegorie De Vassy that day at Fairyhouse was Brandy Love, and it's that Willie Mullins-trained raider that now sits at the head of the ante-post betting around the 5/2 mark, and she will be eager to bounce back to winning ways when lining up in the Mares' Novices' Hurdle on day three of the festival. A ten-length winner of a maiden hurdle at Naas on her hurdling debut, Brandy Love was instantly slashed in the betting for Cheltenham, but defeat to her stablemate at Fairyhouse has left a doubt over whether she is capable of landing the prize.
With the news also breaking earlier in the week that Dan Skelton's Elle Est Belle will bypass Cheltenham and head to Aintree, then the market is certainly becoming more and more wide open, and it's the Mullins team that are dominating the betting, as second in the list is Dinoblue, who has only been seen once on a racecourse, but was hugely impressive when winning at Clonmel in January by 15 lengths.
Wins at Punchestown and Leopardstown have launched Gordon Elliott's Party Central into the picture, and that mare has been trimmed into 6/1, while the likes of Grangee (8/1) and Impervious (10/1) are another brace of leading players in what looks a wide open betting heat for punters to get stuck into.