Font Of Wisdom has Galway written all over him
The meeting swings into action on Monday week and, as usual, a lot of the festival will be all about Dermot Weld. A good week for him generally means a good week for the rest of us.
Such a thought-process was very much prompted by events at both Fairyhouse and Sligo last Sunday.
Let’s start with Fairyhouse and Weld’s Font Of Wisdom. He made a promising enough debut when fifth at Limerick back in early April and then wasn’t seen again until reappearing at Fairyhouse.
Weld tossed him into a really hot race, against some smart horses, the likes of Flowers Of Spring, Steps To Freedom and John Oxx’s highly-rated Sharestan.
And there were a couple of others who weren’t too bad as well. To say that Font Of Wisdom’s performance had Galway written all over it is simply a statement of fact.
For those who like to have a few quid on, he really ran far too well to finish a creditable fourth in the contest won by the 94-rated flowers Of Spring.
He certainly kept on in determined fashion and was showing no signs of stopping at the end of ten furlongs.
You’d imagine Font Of Wisdom will take some whacking in a maiden at Ballybrit and, I wonder, is there any chance the bookmakers didn’t notice him at Fairyhouse?
The other Weld horse to catch the eye was Sulwaan at Sligo. Successful twice on the flat in England for Mark Johnston, he was having a first run for Weld and a first over jumps.
Again he was pitched, we thought, in over his head, taking on the smart Tavern Times and handicapper, Princeton Plains.
There didn’t seem to be much confidence behind him and only the fact he was trained by Weld, and partnered by the desperately unlucky Ruby Walsh, would surely have gone off at a bigger price than 4-1.
For most of the two-mile journey, he didn’t shape like a winner and we sat back and luxuriated in the notion that Galway was his time.
In the end, however, Walsh conjured a terrific late burst from his charge and Sulwaan finished with a flourish to cut down Tavern Times close home and score by half a length.
One might be forgiven for thinking the real target for the horse was the first race of the meeting at Galway on the Monday night, a winners’ hurdle for four-year-olds.
Weld won the race a year ago with the then maiden, Force Of Habit, ridden by Paul Townend.
Sulwaan can still run in that contest, of course, but now under a 4lbs penalty. It shouldn’t stop him, should it?
And while on the subject of Galway don’t dismiss the possibility of Tavern Times being very competitive there.
On the face of it failing to cope with the inexperienced Sulwaan at Sligo was disappointing. No argument with that, but I’ve a feeling he may well greatly appreciate say stepping up to two and a half miles.
Plenty of mugs on Betfair too
WHAT did players on Betfair think they knew, that the rest of us didn’t, when it came to John Oxx’s Cape Of Good Grace in a maiden at Tipperary last Saturday?
She was the clear form pick, the highest rated in the race and appeared to be crying out for a mile and a half plus, which she was getting here, on the evidence of her creditable third behind Freedom and subsequent winner, Forever Glory, over ten furlongs at the Curragh.
A return price of 2-1 was excellent value, but amazingly she almost went as high as 3-1 on Betfair.
Cape Of Good Grace hardly broke sweat to win in a canter and the boys on Betfair, who couldn’t get enough out of her, had to be left scratching their heads and, maybe, each other’s heads as well!
Lesson to be learned, do not doubt for a second that all of the mugs are confined to the betting offices.
Eagle’s Pass: job well done by connections
THAT was rather an interesting success for Thomond O’Mara’s Eagle’s Pass over fences at Killarney on Tuesday night.
Nicely supported in the market, and ridden by Barry Geraghty, he won snugly by three lengths.
What made it interesting, however, was his form over fences. He was given three pops at the back end of last year, in a short few weeks, in testing conditions, and basically showed nothing.
O’Mara forgot about fences for a while after that and Eagle’s Pass enjoyed a few spins over flights and on the flat.
Then at Killarney, on a much better surface, Eagle’s Pass showed his true colours and a few quid was neatly tucked away.
The handicapper’s retribution is to move the horse up a tasty 11lbs to a new mark of 120.
