Wednesday, July 29, 2009
THOSE of you with long memories may remember here a year ago just how confident I was of winning the Galway Plate aboard Oslot.
He duly obliged, travelling and jumping beautifully through the contest and, ultimately, scoring with a nice bit to spare.
Today, I return to the scene of the crime, so to speak, to attempt to land my third Plate on Roby de Cimbre, having also scored on Moscow Express for Frances Crowley.
Oslot was, of course, trained by Paul Nicholls and he now brings across Roby, who has long been the ante-post favourite.
Let me start by telling you straight away I am nowhere near as confident as I was 12 months ago.
He hasn’t done a lot wrong, successful in four of his races from eight efforts over fences, but simply wasn’t as good a novice as Oslot.
His last run saw him win by 14 lengths for Harry Skelton at Newton Abbot, but that was only to be expected, considering he went off at 1-5.
His best effort, however, was also at Newton Abbot, when I partnered him to fill second behind Snoopy Loopy, and the bare form is useful.
Snoopy Loopy went on to take the Betfair Chase at Haydock. You might remember Kauto Star was in that race and in the process of renewing his challenge when Sam Thomas and himself went their separate ways at the final fence.
Roby is not over-big and 10-9 is a lovely racing weight. He can also be quite keen, so the likely decent pace will be a plus.
The ground shouldn’t be a problem, having won on the soft in France. Plenty of positives then, but I must reiterate, I’m simply not as a cocky as I was with Oslot.
This is a typical, fiercely competitive Plate, but a long way short of being top-class, to my way of thinking.
Consequently, it won’t be any great surprise should Royal County Star prove good enough to defy top weight.
A horse I know well, he was able to win a Troytown at Navan on soft ground and was also placed in an Irish National.
You can argue, he cannot win off 11-7, but this is a winter horse taking on summer rivals and that’s well worth noting.
Tony Martin trains Royal County Star and I’ve a feeling holds all the aces, with Northern Alliance in there as well.
Again, he has a hefty burden with 11-4. But he has a hint of class and I rode him to finish fourth in the Jewson at the Cheltenham Festival, under top weight.
I was also in the saddle here a year ago, when Northern Alliance was third in the Galway Hurdle, just lacking a gear.
I feel there’s a lot of dead wood in this Plate and, obviously, hope my lad is up to the task. If he’s not then the gut feeling is Tony Martin won’t be too far away from the winner’s enclosure!
I have two other rides, starting with Tawagg in the first, the novice hurdle. I think he’s probably my best chance of the afternoon.
He’s a horse I gave a dreadful drive to one day at Thurles, but has come a long way since then.
His jumping has much improved and it was hard to fault the manner in which he faced the hill at Downpatrick the last day when giving the second plenty of weight and a beating.
I partner Corrick Bridge for Tony Martin in a two and a half mile handicap hurdle and he has a real life.
The seven-year-old has fallen twice of late, both times over fences and at Killarney. His latest tumble came earlier this month, a contest which I actually won on Norwich Boy.
Davy Russell was on Corrick Bridge and they were in front of me when departing at the third last. I thought Corrick Bridge was cantering and full of running at the time.
He has 10-12 now and, I’d say, isn’t on the wrong side of the handicap anyway. He also won his maiden here two years ago and that’s a plus.
The big imponderable is the surface, after all the rain which fell at Ballybrit yesterday. I think he’ll handle it, but cannot be sure. If he does, Corrick Bridge will nearly win!
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