CHELTENHAM was just great and I can’t remember enjoying a day’s racing as much as Thursday’s.
The atmosphere was amazing and the crowd’s reaction to Frodon’s success in the Ryanair Chase was extraordinary. Bryony Frost’s interview afterwards captured the moment perfectly and she is a great ambassador for racing.
Suspasunade ran very well in the Stayers Hurdle, but the soft ground was against him and he just didn’t see out three miles on that ground. We’ll get him home and see how he is next week and we’ll look at Aintree and Punchestown for him.
Got Trumped ran a solid race in the Fred Winter, while Emily Moon’s run in the Mares Novice Hurdle is best ignored – she is much better than that.
I was thrilled with Not Many Left who finished third in the Pertemps Final and we’ll find a nice for him at Fairyhouse and/or Punchestown, while Discordantly ran well for a long way in the Martin Pipe – he’s still a maiden over hurdles and we’ll see how he comes out of Cheltenham before we make a plan for him.
Down Royal – Saturday
6.00
Papal Pearl (Tom Hamilton)
She ran a very good race when she finished third on her debut at Navan and she has come on for that. She ran as we thought she would that day and on the basis of that effort, she should win a bumper. She has been in good form since and while the likes of Two Shoe Tom and Pont Anval both bring solid placed form into the race, our filly gets a nice bit of weight from her elders. She had Lady Of Elysium behind her, when they met at Navan and for a four-year-old, she is a great big filly. She will be a lovely mare to go jumping with it next season and hopefully she’ll run a big race here.
Wexford – Saturday
1.45
Fiveallin (Mark Walsh)
He’s a nice horse that goes well and we are keen to get him started. He jumps well, but it’s never easy to win a maiden hurdle first time out. Hopefully he’ll run a decent race and whatever he does here, he will improve for it.
Limerick – Sunday
3.10
Spoken For (Paddy Kennedy)
He’s a nice horse, but he needs soft ground and by the looks of things, he’s likely to get it here. He jumps well and he should run a decent race, but Carefully Selected brings top bumper form into the race and despite the fact that he hasn’t run so far this, we saw this week that Willie’s horses are in great form and he’ll be hard to beat.
3.40
Whydah (Paddy Kennedy)
He has been crying out for soft ground and I can see him running a decent race. Two miles and five around Limerick should be fine for him and everyone at home tells me that he’s in good shape. It looks a competitive race and he ran well on his penultimate start in a maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse and a repeat effort should hopefully give him a chance in this.
