THERE'S not been a lot of racing here yet this week but I’m pleased to say Supasundae came out his race incredibly well and actually didn’t even lose a kilo. He now goes straight for the Irish Champion Hurdle in Leopardstown, which he won last year.
Press Conference was another winner for us, and he needs soft ground. He’ll probably aim for one of those smart races on Dublin Festival weekend, if they get the soft ground. I’m a bit restricted at the moment with a lot of nice young horses that want soft ground.
Magic Of Light will likely go back over to England to run in a Mares Listed race at Huntingdon at the end of the month.
Exit Poll came out of his race very well and will go hurdling after February 1st, so he can stay a novice until December 1st. We might as well crack on with him because at the end of the day he’s going to be a chaser.
Jetez, who won a nice handicap hurdle, is still a novice so he can go for the Grade 2 Moscow Flyer in Punchestown this month. He also came out of his race really well and I’ll actually be giving him an entry in the Betfair Hurdle.
I have four runners in Cork tomorrow where finally the ground is soft….they may even have the word heavy in the going description which I’m absolutely delighted about!
Saturday – Cork
12.45pm
Emily Moon (Robbie Power)
She won her bumper in Cork back in May very impressively on heavy ground. She’s had one run this season, in a Listed Mares Bumper in Navan (which I actually won with Barrington Court), but she didn’t like the ground as it was too quick for her. She’s been ready to run all throughout Christmas but the ground wasn’t right for her. Robert rides and I’m hopeful of a very good run. She schooled over hurdles and although it’s not a Mares race, we’ve come here for the ground as that’s more important.
Discordantly (Paddy Kennedy)
Similarly, the ground was too quick for him when we ran in Punchestown a few weeks ago. He failed to get into the race I wanted to run him in over Christmas on soft, so he also goes to Cork for the ground. Paddy rides him and he’s a horse I like and he should run very well. Whether he’s got as good a chance as the mare I don’t know, probably I’d have thought the mare would be a bit better but you never really know till you get to the races. He probably wants a bit further, too, but he jumps very well.
1.55pm
Jett (Robbie Power)
He unseated his rider over Christmas so he goes here for a confidence booster before his next race over fences. Robert rides him and I hope he’ll run a nice race. He wasn’t a bad hurdler in his day and he’s 13lbs better off over hurdles than fences too.
Close Shave (Niall P Madden)
He fell on his first outing this year when really hating the ground in Fairyhouse. He’s another that’s been waiting for the soft ground and again he’s going down here for a confidence booster. The cheekpieces should get him to concentrate a bit – he ran lazily in Fairyhouse though that might have been due to the quick ground. Hopefully he’ll run a nice race and he’ll also go back over fences very shortly.
Sunday – Naas
12.55pm
Barrington Court (Mark Walsh)
She’s very exciting and ran a blinder in Naas when a little bit novicey. She’s in excellent form, did a very good piece of work this week and I’m happy with her. She’s schooled well and although she’s ‘taking on the boys’ as it were, she gets 7lbs and I think she’s well up to it.
1.50pm
Magnium (Robbie Power)
My thinking behind this is that he got no run in Navan the last day. Everything went wrong in that race – he got hampered and couldn’t get going again. His two runs before that in Navan were both very good and he was unlucky not to win one of them. He really has to go left-handed as well, so I’m very restricted with where I can go. This is a very hot race but I’m hopeful he can run well and maybe even get a bit of black-type because his owner has the mare and various siblings so it would certainly help him!
3.50pm
Long March (Mr Finian Maguire)
He’s a very nice 4yo. We had him in the summer and were thinking about running him on the flat but decided to keep him for a bumper. He wouldn’t be running if the ground was soft but as, believe it or not in the first week of January, the ground is good to yielding he’ll take his chance. We like him, he’s done a good bit of homework and also been away for a racecourse gallop, so hopefully he’ll know his job. You just never know what you’re going to come up against in these races.
