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Agree regarding Stan being a bit overpriced Mark. Good consistent handicapper with course and distance form. Glenfinn Captain has franked the form in his two runs this season and Coleman is well worth his 3lbs claim. Yard in good form as well.
Backed Garde Champetre there but you got to take your hat off to Davy. Knew exactly what he was doing and rode the others to sleep.
He only got up by a head Gaz but the front two were 15L clear of the third. Would favour Garde Champetre over him tomorrow unless there’s significant market support. Bolger really excels in this discipline and I would fully expect L’ami to develop into a serious contender for these races under his guidance.
Cannot understand people who feel there’s no place for races like this at Cheltenham. I think its a fantastic spectacle. Also think it provides a good opportunity for punters. Once you get a horse who relishes it you’re laughing. To think Spot went off at odds of 6/1, 4/1, 4/1, 13/8, 5/1, 6/1 and 11/4 in his wins at Cheltenham.
L’ami is an interesting runner for Bolger in the Cross Country. Won a point for JT at Kilsheelan last month. Garde Champetre did bolt up at the festival last year though and is the one to beat. Puntal is another to watch. Would have given Spot a race last year if Noel Fehily hadn’t got lost!
Snowy ran no sort of race there. Trip was on the short side for him but he was still very disappointing. Never really warmed to the horse myself. Always seems to find one or two too good for him.
Great to see Glenfinn Captain back to some sort of form. Backed him antepost for the Arkle many moons ago. He had a bad bout of colic two years ago and wasn’t expected to survive. Taaffe was saying they had to remove some of his intestine so it was obviously going to take its toll on him but it’s nice to see he still possesses some ability.
As for Clopf, I don’t know what to make of him anymore. Looked a potential superstar at one stage but now sadly looks to have lost the plot completely.
Nice performance by Chelsea Harbour. Can’t keep Tom Mullins out of the winners enclosure at the moment. Presume they’ll keep him over hurdles to protect his handicap mark for the National. Ran a cracker last year. Would have gone close if Davy hadn’t had him as handy throughout.
Would be fairly confident that Jered will take this on Sunday. Noel’s horses are absolutely flying and a lot of De Bromhead’s are needing the run. His run at Down Royal suggested that he’s not as ground dependent as most of us would have thought initially. It was bottomless when he was last beaten in the Royal Bond last year but he was only a shell of a horse then and he’s really filled out and thrived over the last year.
It might take a bit of a leap of faith to expect him to beat Sizing Europe later on in the season though, unless he really gives him a real beating on Sunday.
Could be a right good horse this Hurricane Fly. Very classy on the flat in France. Beat Literato 2L in a listed race and only beaten 2 3/4L by Lawman in a Group 3. Bolted up in his maiden hurdle at Punchestown last May and ran well in both his visits to Auteil during the summer. Willie has said that he could well see him ending up in the Ballymore at Cheltenham.
Will be interesting if he meets Pandorama at some stage along the way. He has been ultra impressive on his three racecourse appearances and the P2P crowd were raving about his performance at Dungarvan. 7/1 with Paddy Power about him for Cheltenham at this stage does seem a bit skinny though, especially after Aran Concerto and Sweet Wake’s reversals at short odds in recent years.
Willie reported this morning that the plan is to send Hurricane Fly here. Cousin Vinny, on the other hand, will run in a maiden hurdle somewhere but he is unlikely to be ready for the Royal Bond.
Think they’re planning on running Thyne Again in the John Durkan Memorial at Punchestown over 2m4 next Fists. Could possibly be running into the likes of War Of Attrition and Noland so we should get a good idea where he stands.
Agree with you that he’s a horse to keep on the right side of. Definitely on the improve and was mightily impressive at Naas the last day. Looking back at the Arkle last year it looked like he was crying out for a step up in trip and it would be no surprise to see him line up as one of the favourites for the Ryanair come March.
Think they might take a chance with him in a few of the better 2m chases over here before Cheltenham though. The retirement of Nickname has really opened up the 2m division over here. Unless something like Clopf tomorrow at Clonmel, or a Big Zeb or Perce Rock in the next few weeks, comes out and shows massive improvement on what they achieved as novices, it might pay dividends to let him take his chance in races like the Paddy Power dialabet, the Normans Grove and the Tied Cottage where he’d be very hard to beat on heavy ground.
(2:15) Maplewood Developments H’dle (Grade 1)
€65,000.00 ( 2m – 4yo+ )-2p-4 1 Cuan Na Grai (PNolan) – . ………………(135)
12-04 2 Harchibald (FR) (NMeade) – . …………(160)
22-20 3 Hardy Eustace (DTHughes) – …………(160)
-1111 4 Jered (NMeade) – ………………………….(158)
f1-10 5 Sizing Europe (Hde Bromhead) – ……(167)
1-231 6 Won In The Dark (SJHarty) – ………….(135)Six left in for the big one on Sunday. Paddy Power have Jered as their 11/10 fav with Sizing Europe at 7/4. Henry De Bromhead quoted today that Sizing Europe will come on for the run. Noel reported that there would have to be a big improvement in the ground for Harchibald to run, but the plan is for Jered to take his chance.
Nicanor was close to coming back a number of times last season but just kept picking up a few minor problems. He was ready to run around Punchestown time last April, but he’d have had to run in a Grade 1 hurdle as they didn’t want to lose his novice status over fences so they left him off for the summer.
There was a feature with Noel on ATR the other day and he said that he had him close enough to being ready to run at the minute, but he’s just suffered another minor setback and he’s swimming at the moment. Noel is hopeful that he’ll be ready to run at some stage in the near future.
I get the sense that he is quite a fragile horse and we might never see the best of him. He beat Denman quite comfortably in the Sun Alliance Hurdle as it was then and Noel was convinced that he’d make an even better chaser.
Mossbank is out for the season batman. Pity really, made rapid improvement last season and was only 4 lengths behind Denman in the Lexus.
I know the Ballymore is 2m5 Chief. Was just saying that if he didn’t seem to stay that day, it would be highly unlikely he’d be able to stay a further three furlongs now. I probably could have phrased it better.
Was interesting to hear O’Grady say he’d been schooled over 27 fences. Might end up like Clopf and switching attention to fences if things aren’t going to plan. Novice Chase division in Ireland this year does look quite strong though.
Big fan of Listowel too Seán. Much prefer the harvest festival down there to Galway. Always some craic around the town especially if Kerry are in the All Ireland Final. Really enjoyed the the five day national hunt festival there this year. The seven days with the mixed cards can drag on a bit.
O’Grady said after the race that if he is to go to Cheltenham it will be for the Champion rather than the Stayers. Not surprising really as he didn’t seem to stay in the Ballymore when behind Massinis Maguire and Tidal Bay and there’s no reason to think he’d stay out the three miles now.
He also mentioned the Aintree Hurdle and it would appear to be the logical target in the spring.
