Lyrical Theatre can take centre stage
He was frustrating in bumpers, and probably didn’t handle real winter ground. I know the forecast isn’t great for the weekend, but he’s in the second race and so hopefully they won’t have got too far into the ground by then.
He dotted up in a very moderate race in Listowel but all any horse can do is win.
He seems to be in good form at home. I don’t know if getting his head in front gave him a bit of confidence or boosted his ego, but his last couple of bits of work have been as good as he’s done.
He obviously has to improve a bit to win a novice hurdle, but he looks every bit a three-miler, and a chaser, and I think he’ll run a very big race.
I’m also on The Crafty Butcher in the novice chase, for Michael Hourigan.
What swayed me to ride the horse was the fact Barry Geraghty was going to ride him ahead of Blacklough at Tipperary a couple of weeks ago. He was a non-runner, but Barry thought he’d give Indevan a race had he run.
I did win a maiden hurdle on him at Clonmel, the season before last, and he improved all through last season.
He did well to win over two miles at Killarney back in May because he’s not a two-miler, and the extra half mile of tomorrow’s race is much more suitable.
Michael Hourigan’s horses are in good form, and I think he will go well but it looks a decent novice chase, and very competitive.
Looking at them, the class horse in the race is probably Lots Of Memories, but he hasn’t run over fences. It’s a fair ask of any horse to take on winners on their first time over fences .
The other one in the race which looked very impressive, though he did run in the Cesarewitch last week, is Rawnaq. He jumped very well around Navan and has to be respected.
Willie runs Lucky Bridle in the October Handicap at Naas.
He’s drawn 12 of 16, which isn’t ideal, but I think the mile-and-a-half trip is ideal for him, and Willie has been targeting the race for him for a little bit of time.
He’s been brought to a bit of a peak for this, so hopefully he’ll run a big race.
He also runs Lyrical Theatre in the bumper and she has strong claims.
She disappointed at Galway, but she’s definitely a better mare that run suggests. The two horses which finished in front of her there, Sheamus and Princely Conn, both won their maidens hurdles next time out, giving the form a boost, so hopefully she can get back to winning ways this time.
All the rain we had during the week has helped with the work at Willie Mullins’ yard.
The horses all stepped up a notch this week, and I’d imagine, with the rain that’s due over the weekend, they’ll be up another notch next week.
Even looking at the standard of racing, I think everyone seems to be in the same boat - a week or 10 days further back than you’d like.
I’d imagine from the middle of next week on, we’re going to see an upward curve in the standard of horse that are running.
Willie revealed during the week that Vautour will go chasing and Faugheen will remain over hurdles.
We talked about this earlier in the week - Willie will always listen to opinions, but he’s very much his own man and will make the decision which is right for the horse.
When you thought about it, it looked obvious enough, and I’m delighted Vautour is going chasing.
Even when I rode him to win his maiden hurdle at Navan, I thought ‘I can’t wait to ride him over fences’.
I think he’ll stay any trip, and he showed he had the pace to win over two miles.
I’m looking forward to schooling him over the next fortnight and getting a good bit of work into him.
He always struck me as more of a jumper than a hurdler. He made good use of himself, and he could be anything.
Faugheen will have to improve to make up into Champion Hurdle class, but he did nothing wrong last year.
He won well at Cheltenham, and improved for that run and improved his jumping to win at Punchestown.
He’s going to have to mix it with the big boys at some stage, but I’d imagine we’ll start him in a second-season novice hurdle somewhere, and get a run under his belt before taking on the likes of Jezki and Hurricane Fly.
Willie is very undecided what to do with Annie Power, whether to send her over fences or to keep her hurdling.
It’s a difficult one. Willie said he’d school her over fences, but the final decision is probably a couple of weeks away yet.
She was bought as a chaser, she has the size for it, so she’ll probably be schooled and we’ll see how it goes. But she always has the option of going back hurdling.
It’s a decision we’re keen to get right. Had she won the World Hurdle, maybe there wouldn’t be a decision to be made, but the fact she got beaten puts a doubt in your head. It’s a difficult one.
Hopefully by Christmas, though, we’ll be looking back and thinking all the decisions we made were the right ones.
