Third in that Down Royal race was Inca Prince, who has since won two races for Ruth Jefferson at Catterick and Musselburgh and now runs off a mark of 121.
Fil Dor is favourite for the Triumph Hurdle and, further adding to that Down Royal form boost is the fact Quilixios won the same race in 2020 before winning the Triumph last year.
American Mike is another Cullentra inmate who will run in the fiercely competitive Champion Bumper.
Owned by the big-spending Bectiv Stud, this five-year-old has never tasted defeat and was beyond impressive when battering rivals at Navan at the end of last year.
Sir Gerhard won that same race in 2020 before going onto win the Champion Bumper by half-a-length from Kilcruit last year.
Elliott knows the formula for American Mike and Fil Dor is tried and tested so expect him to stick to it for this year too.
Blue Lord is the only one of our trio not trained by Elliott and not currently a favourite for a race at the Festival this year.
But he has been impressing for Willie Mullins, winning his past two races at short odds and by a combined 20.5 lengths.
Ferny Hollow – another Mullins star – heads the betting for the Arkle currently, and deservedly so.
That being said he did jump a bit left when seeing off Riviere D’etel in a Grade 1 at Leopardstown over Christmas.
Blue Lord cannot match that victory at as high a level right now but is obviously being fancied as a massive improver by punters.
Booked for second until falling in the Supreme behind Appreciate It last year, Blue Lord looks much better suited by chasing.
FREE BETS GET OVER £2,000 IN SIGN UP OFFERS HERE
Commercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to SE. 18+. T&Cs apply. Begambleaware.org
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
- Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
- Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
- Never chases their losses
- Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
- Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
- Gamble Aware – www.begambleaware.org
