IT'S been a relatively quiet week racing wise, but the flat season starts here on Sunday and between Thurles and Naas, we will have plenty of runners over the weekend.
It’s hard to believe that it’s just over a week since Cheltenham and I’m happy to report that all the horses that we ran over there were fine afterwards and I’d imagine that by early next week, we’ll finalise our team for Aintree.
We’ll keep an eye on the weather and at the moment we have the two horses in the National and Sandymount Duke has his final prep run at Thurles.
Thurles Saturday
2.55 Sandymount Duke (Paddy Kennedy)
He ran well before he got tired in the bad ground on his first run back at Naas and he has tightened up and improved for that. He will appreciate the better ground, but everything is geared around the Aintree National for him and this will run will bring him on again. He can be a bit stuffy and I think this race will leave him right for Aintree. If he runs to his rating, I wouldn’t be surprised, if he got into the shake up and I’ve been delighted with him since he ran the other day.
4.05 Jetz (Paul Townend)
He beat two of these (Benruben and Duca De Thaix) when he won on his penultimate start at Navan and I am putting a pair of cheek-pieces on him and I think they will help him. It’s a small field and he won’t mind the good ground and if nothing wants to go on, I’d imagine that Paul will let him roll along in front. He seems to be in great form and he schooled very well on Friday morning and we’ll give him another pop again on Saturday morning.
Jetz is a flyaway winner of the Coral Double Your Cheltenham Winnings First Race Every Day Flyingbolt Novice Chase for Jessica Harrington and Paul Townend ✈️ pic.twitter.com/U7p24cUnLC
— Navan Racecourse (@NavanRacecourse) March 2, 2019
5.15 Another Barney (Paddy Kennedy)
He schooled well on Friday morning and there is no doubt that he has been a bit disappointing, but I think the good ground might help him and if he ran to his rating, he’d have a chance in this. I don’t think the trip will be an issue for him and he ran much better the last day and if things go right for him, he is capable of running a big race.
5.50 The Gabby Cabby (Barry O’Neill)
He is a fine, big chasing type and I am looking forward to seeing how he runs. He is still pretty green and I can see him improving a lot for this run.
