Ballymore 2023 Tips - Favourite can Passe this test

Here's our free guide and tips for the 2023 Ballymore Novices' Hurdle.

In three of the last five years, the Ballymore has been won by an odds-on favourite. Thankfully, this year's renewal looks far from cut and dried. In fact, it promises to be one of the most exciting races of the entire meeting.

Hermes Allen jumped to the head of the betting following his victory in the Challow Hurdle - the form of which has been franked numerous times since. Paul Nicholls' star has barely seen a rival in his three starts over hurdles thus far, but Harry Cobden's front-runner could be vulnerable to a rival with a more potent turn-of-foot and, as Willie Mullins often says, you need a speed horse to win the Ballymore.

Talking of Willie Mullins, Ireland's Champion Trainer accounts for three of the first five in the betting. The highest-rated of that trio is Gaelic Warrior, following two easy maiden victories and a handicap triumph at the Dublin Racing Festival. Gaelic Warrior does, still, jump violently out to his right, an eccentricity that proved costly when the hot-favourite was beaten in the Boodles Handicap Hurdle last season. Gaelic Warrior couldn't get the job done off an incredibly lenient handicap mark of 129 that day and he's yet to run over further than two miles. He wouldn't be for me.

Impaire Et Passe, on the other hand, looks to have everything you need to win a Ballymore. Mullins' five-year-old has jumped very nicely on both of his hurdles starts, winning easily over 19-furlongs on his hurdles debut before six-length triumph back down over two in the Moscow Flyer. Impaire Et Passe clearly has bundles of ability and a fantastic engine to boot. Yet, of the main contenders in this season's Ballymore, his literal form is arguably the weakest, making his current odds of 7/2 seem a little on the skinny side.

Champ Kiely deserves a big mention, having held off Irish Point to win the Lawlor's Of Naas on his most recent start at Navan. Despite that Grade One triumph, Champ Kiely sits behind both Gaelic Warrior and Impaire Et Passe in the market, which would indicate the Closutton pecking order. He may not have as much natural ability as the aforementioned duo, but at 8/1, Champ Kiely offers decent value.

As does Barry Connell's Good Land, who ran out an impressive winner of the Nathaniel Lacy at the Dublin Racing Festival. I've already tipped his stablemate, Marine Nationale to win the Supreme Novices' Hurdle on day one and it would be incredible if Connell did manage to seal a Grade One double at the Cheltenham Festival. I am a little worried that Good Land had a hard race over 22-furlongs at Leopardstown. A recovery time of 40 days may not quite be enough.