The 6 Must Know Savills Trends for Leopardstown on Monday

The Savills Chase is the centrepiece of the Leopardstown Christmas meeting. Since being upgraded to a Grade 1 in 2002, it’s been one of the top three mile chases of the season. Despite this, only Beef Or Salmon in that timeframe has won it more than once, the last fourteen winners have all been different.

We’ll have our free horse racing tips for Leopardstown as well as Catterick, Leicester, Limerick and Newcastle all on the site for Monday as the busy festive season rolls on. There is a tip for the Savills Chase here but lets see who the trends point towards as the winner.

Meade & Elliott the men to follow

Five winners between Noel Meade and Gordon Elliott in the last decade and four in the last six years, they are the men to follow. They have sent out sixteen runners between them for those five winners, gaining four places as well. Willie Mullins has won two of the last five but he has sent out nineteen runners in the last decade for those two successes.

Gigginstown rules the roost

It isn’t a big surprise given they tend to be mob handed but five of the last six winners have been owned by Gigginstown. Such is their domination that in the last five years, ten of the fifteen in the first three home have sported their famous silks. They have 4 runners this year in Balko Des Flos, Delta Work, Samcro and Tout Est Permis.

Six, seven and eight are the ages to follow

Tidal Bay winning this at the age of eleven in 2012 is very much the exception in this race. Four of the last five winners have been a six-year-old and only two of the last twenty-one has fallen outside of the age range above. In fact only three in the thirty-three year history of the race have been older than eight. This spells bad news for the second favourite, Presenting Percy.

9 or less runs over fences

It almost goes hand in hand with the age stat but those who have already gone into double figures in terms of starts over fences are disadvantaged. Only one winner in the last decade has had ten or more stats over fences. A Plus Tard, Allaho, Easy Game, Fakir D’Oudairies, Melon, Minella Indo, Samcro and Tornado Flyer fit this trend.

Proved they stay & already a Grade 1 Chase winner

Nine of the last ten winners were already winners over this three mile trip. Leopardstown is a stiffer finish than it looks on tv and stamina is crucial. Form already at the table over the bigger obstacles is also important, eight of the last ten winners had already tasted success at this level in a chase.

The horses to match both of these are Delta Work, Kemboy and Presenting Percy.

Conclusion

Nothing in here matches all the trends. The 2019 winner Delta Work comes closest, a Gordon Elliott-trained, Gigginstown owned Grade 1 winner over fences who is a seven-year-old. He’s only had ten runs over fences so misses out on that stat by just a single run.