Dermot Weld – Cheltenham Bound

By Stephen Dwyer

Before he was given the honour of being inaugurated to the World Golf Hall of Fame, Arnold Palmer once said “the more I practice the luckier I get”. Sport reflects life insofar as when you constantly refine and hone a particular aspect of your game, you will improve it.

From his base at Rosewell House, yards from the entrance to The Curragh, Dermot Weld embodies refinement. Not alone is he the most successful trainer in Ireland of all time, with over 3,000 wins, he is also the first European to train the winner of the Melbourne Cup, twice. On the flat he has won all five Irish Classics and numerous international Derbies. He is a specialist at longer distance flat races which have all helped him in becoming champion trainer 21 times.

Although chiefly a flat trainer, he keeps a select string of promising National Hunt horses and has enjoyed many successes over obstacles. The Galway Festival is his specialty; he has been the leading trainer at Ballybrit no less than 26 times. Such is his dominance of the Galway track that in 2009, Paddy Power, as they do, led an attention-stirring campaign to have the Galway Festival renamed to “The Dermot Weld Retirement Fund”.

Dermot Weld is not just a summer specialist however. This season he has enjoyed some big wins including Majestic Concorde who stayed on well to claim the €190,000 Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown. Majestic Concorde is now bound for The Grand National at Aintree, a race Weld admits he would love to win.

Before Aintree, there is the small matter of the Cheltenham festival to contend with. Weld’s two main hopes this year are Hidden Universe and Unaccompanied. Hidden Universe holds entries in both the Supreme Novice’s and Neptune Hurdles but is more likely to run in the Supreme. Although well beaten in last year’s Cheltenham Champion Bumper, he went on to win the Irish Champion Bumper in convincing style at Punchestown last April.

At Leopardstown over Christmas, Hidden Universe dotted up in a maiden hurdle at odds of 4/11f. Immediately stepped up in class, he ran out a decent fourth in the Grade 1 Deloitte Novice Hurdle at the same track two weeks ago. Given that this was a two-mile-two-furlong trip, it was a performance that solidified his Cheltenham aims in the shorter Supreme Novices. Bred by Moyglare Stud, Hidden Universe is a half brother to the useful two-mile hurdle and chase winner Jubilant Note and at 16/1 for the Supreme Novices, he has solid each-way claims.

Weld also has a live contender in the Triumph Hurdle. In 1990 he won the race with Rare Holiday and to date, this remains his only winner at Cheltenham. He hopes to emulate that success in three weeks time with Unaccompanied. This filly makes a little piece of history by becoming the first-ever runner in the National Hunt code for Moyglare Stud Farms and also the first Grade 1 winner over hurdles to be sired by Danehill Dancer.

The four year old is a hugely exciting prospect. Twice successful on the flat, including of course, a win at where else but Galway, Unaccompanied is unbeaten over hurdles. She recently won a €70,000 Grade 1 Juvenile at Leopardstown under Paul Townend in effortless fashion.

Her odds for the Triumph have since tumbled from 16/1 to 7/1 and she has to be seriously considered. As an added bonus, she will be in receipt of a valuable 7lb fillies allowance at Cheltenham and bids to become the fourth filly to win the race, the first since Snow Drop in 2000. She is undoubtedly the best juvenile hurdler in the country at the moment and highly regarded by her trainer: “She knows her job, loves jumping, is adaptable ground wise and very progressive”.

It is nine years since Scolardy became the last Irish-trained winner of the Triumph. Since then, Weld ran the 33/1 outsider Loyal Focus in the 2005 race but he finished well down the field. Again it was a learning curve for the trainer and he takes what he can from his losses in order to improve the next day.

This year’s renewal of the Triumph hurdle does not appear the strongest and favourites have a poor record in the race with only two winning in the past twenty years. The current market leader is the Nicky Henderson trained Grandouet and Unaccompanied is sure to start a shorter price on the day than is currently on offer.

Dermot Weld is hoping that history will repeat itself with this high class filly, it will take a serious horse to stop her. If she progresses further, as she is sure to do and manages to take the Triumph, in the winners enclosure unaccompanied she will not be.

By Stephen Dwyer