D-Day for Deutschland - and it should be a winning one

By Ruby Walsh

Thursday, July 30, 2009

IF I wasn’t madly optimistic regarding the prospects of Roby de Cimbre in the Plate yesterday, then the exact opposite is the case with Deutschland in the Hurdle this afternoon.

To put it mildly, I believe he has an outstanding chance and will be very disappointed should he not run a very big race indeed.

He had top weight this week in both the Plate and the amateur handicap on the flat on Monday night and yet gets in now off bottom weight.

It doesn’t, of course, mean he is necessarily well handicapped, but you would have to take encouragement from it all the same.

I’m well aware Deutschland has only ever won one handicap and that came courtesy of the stewards at Leopardstown.

But he is a hardy little horse, going the right way, and will arrive here in real good nick.

The last time he ran over flights was in the Pierse at Leopardstown in January. He may have only finished eighth, but it was a cracking effort and doesn’t reveal the full story.

Keep in mind that Deutschland arrived that day on the back of two falls over fences, at Thurles and Leopardstown.

As a result, he missed out the first three obstacles and you simply cannot do that and hope to be there at the business end.

I was sixth or seventh heading to the first and, as we headed out into the country, had been shuffled miles back.

By the time my lad had hit a proper rhythm the contest was essentially over, although at the death we were only about two and a half lengths adrift of the winner, Penny’s Bill.

I’ve sat on Deutschland over the last few days and feel he is the same horse he was back in January.

He’s won his last three, over fences at Punchestown and then twice on the flat, at Navan and Dundalk.

It surprised me he was able to win on the all-weather, because that’s basically a fast surface. Deutschland is at his best on soft ground.

Looking down through the race, the first thing that strikes you is there are certainly a lot of good ground horses, as you’d expect, involved.

Let’s just say that, with the exception of Lucky Wish, who is lodged at the bottom with me, I am more than happy to be getting weight off them all.

I have had it my head for a while that this fellow will win a big handicap hurdle and let’s see if I’m right.

He is straightforward and uncomplicated and I’ll be keeping it simple, probably in the first five or six from the start.

Corrick Bridge missed a handicap hurdle yesterday and the plan is for him to run in the opening beginners chase today.

I told you all about him here yesterday, about how unlucky he was when falling at the third last at Killarney.

This appears to be a particularly weak race, but Corrick Bridge has now fallen the last two times and that has to be a worry.

He is untried on the ground, so Tony Martin and I don’t want to see any more rain and for it to dry out as much as possible. If I can get him round, he should win.

Another Ambition has no more than an each-way shout in the novice chase. It’s not a great contest, but he is ordinary. I’ll ride him to be placed and hope for the bonus.

Dual Gales is a more realistic prospect in the novice hurdle. At one stage, I told Willie Mullins, and the horse’s owner, he would never win a race.

I’ve been proved wrong on three occasions and would delight in getting it wrong a fourth time.

He will love stepping back up to two and a half miles, although would prefer better ground. A minor worry is he seems to be at his best on a level track!

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, July 30, 2009