Racing ‘minnows’ aim to spike big guns in Paddy Power Chase

Thursday’s €200,000 Paddy Power Chase is the richest pot of Leopardstown’s holiday programme and a potentially lucrative day in the big race sun for racing’s minnows.

It is after all one of the most coveted handicaps on the racing programme and the whole theory of handicaps is they are designed to try and even things out by providing a level playing field.

In practice, recent years have seen Ireland’s biggest handicap steeplechases dominated by the sport’s major operations.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary’s massive Gigginstown Stud operation in particular has extended its dominance of top pattern events to the most valuable handicaps. A policy of running large teams of horses has paid off repeatedly.

Clarcam’s shock Galway Plate victory was Gigginstown’s fourth in five years in the big summer prize.

General Principle’s Irish National at Easter was another surprise outcome and a third win in the race for Gigginstown in four years. Last month Tout Est Permis gave O’Leary another Troytown at Navan.

In October his great rival JP McManus chipped in with a Munster National victory at Limerick through Spider Web.

The legendary owner will target a seventh success in all in the Paddy Power where his famous green colours are set to be carried by ten of the 28 runners. Two of the three reserves are also McManus’s.