THE Dublin Racing Festival did not fail to deliver.

It was a wonderful weekend of top-class racing with the usual mixture of burst bubbles and burgeoning reputations.

Here’s five horses that ran at Leopardstown it might pay to follow looking ahead to next month’s Cheltenham Festival.

Gala Marceau (Triumph Hurdle) – 9/2

All the attention following the Spring Juvenile Hurdle focussed on runner-up Lossiemouth.

She failed to get anything like a smooth passage being shuffled down the field turning out of the back straight and then being forced wide rounding the final bend.

That allowed Gala Marceau, also trained by Willie Mullins, to get first run. The general consensus was that Lossiemouth was pretty unlucky but I’m not so sure.

Gala Marceau tanked through the race and was still carting her jockey Danny Mullins at the halfway stage. Despite pulling too hard for her own good she still saw the race out strongly.

Her jumping was very slick and she’s clearly got a good attitude.

The result was a turnaround with Lossiemouth on their previous form over Christmas but that was Gala Marceau’s first run since arriving from France.

There’s more improvement to come and she must have a great chance in the Triumph Hurdle.

Tekao (Boodles Juveniles Handicap Hurdle) – 5/1

Back in third behind Gala Marceau in the Spring Juvenile was another Cheltenham hopeful.

Tekao is expected to go the handicap route in the old Fred Winter Hurdle and he looks the one to beat.

The small field in the Leopardstown Grade 1 didn’t suit him and he raced wide around the turns in the early stages.

He was still travelling well turning for home before being left behind by the front pair in the closing stages with his jockey Mark Walsh not giving him a hard time on the run-in.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he was up to Graded company later in the season so he must be a leading contender for the Boodles – one of the few Festival races his trainer Willie Mullins has never won.

El Fabiolo (Arkle Trophy) – 2/1

Jonbon has a fight on his hands for the Arkle Trophy.

The 2m novices’ championship contest looks one of the races of the Festival with El Fabiolo confirming himself as a potentially top-class chaser with an impressive victory at Leopardstown.

They went a proper pace at Leopardstown and he travelled incredibly well. His jumping wasn’t perfect but it was only his second start over fences.

His most serious blunder four from home was partly to do with Daryl Jacob going for a rather ambitious long stride. The fact he was able to recover to come clear down the straight is very much to his credit.

Considering he ran Jonbon to a neck over hurdles at Aintree last season, he must be a live threat heading to Cheltenham.

Stattler (Gold Cup) – 15/2

Galopin Des Champs passed his latest Cheltenham Festival mock exam with maximum marks when careering away with the Irish Gold Cup.

Back in second Stattler made it a one-two for Willie Mullins and his Gold Cup ambitions remain intact.

The three-mile trip was always likely to be on the sharp side for last year’s impressive National Hunt Chase hero and he was outspeeded by his stablemate down the straight.

The way he stuck on to grab second was most pleasing, especially as he lost valuable momentum when he got in tight to the second-last fence.

He’s going to have to improve to trouble the winner at Cheltenham but he will love the extra stamina test in the Festival’s top prize, especially if the ground is soft.

I can’t have him out of the frame in the Gold Cup and he should get an awful lot closer to Galopin Des Champs. The 15-2 is almost an each-way bet to nothing with competition relatively thin on the ground.

Indigo Breeze (Ultima Chase) – 14/1

It wasn’t the most obvious performance to get excited about a horse’s Cheltenham prospects but Indigo Breeze isn’t one to be giving up on just yet.

He trailed in down the field in the 2m5f handicap chase on Sunday but it could be a different story at next month’s Festival.

A mistake at the first fence seemed to unsettle him and the pace seemed a trifle hot, too, over a distance short of his best.

If Gordon Elliott sends him over for the Ultima on the first day of the Festival he will find the 3m trip much more to his liking.

Given he ran The Real Whacker to three-quarters of a length at Cheltenham in November having earlier chased home another smart Banbridge, he could easily be well treated come the opening day of the Festival.