Always The Groom can complete quick double
Pat Flynn's Darshaan gelding showed little or nothing in three outings last season and was assessed accordingly.
He was, however, a morning-price gamble to make a winning seasonal debut on Monday and the confidence was far from misplaced.
The four-year-old landed the touch with the minimum of fuss, cruising to a three lengths defeat of Pillar Rock. The worry now is that this race is over half a mile shorter. It is only a minor concern, though, because he travelled supremely well through the Ballinrobe contest and would have won at most trips.
Always The Groom runs here under a paltry 5lbs penalty and will surely go up by substantially more in the future.
The rather frustrating Clochmhaoil Castle is now ten and hardly getting better, but holds a leading chance in the six-runner Go Racing In Kildare Handicap Hurdle.
He was run out of it in the closing stages by Glentorpe at Wexford on his latest appearance and a repeat of that effort should prove good enough, particularly with Ruby Walsh now on board.
The August Bank Holiday Family Day Race is a puzzle. Akimbo, struggling to hit form, and Glocca Morra, making a belated start to the campaign, are best treated at the weights. The vote falls on Moone Cross, who made little show in a fiercely competitive Curragh handicap last time, but previously wasn't disgraced in a Group Three at Leopardstown.
It's the time of the year when Aidan O'Brien's best juveniles should be emerging and his Danzig colt, Astronomer Royal, gets the nod in the Yeomanstown and Morristown Lattin Studs EBF Maiden.
