Moment of Weakness deserves to have a shot at the Marble Hill
We were delighted with the two-year-old, Moment of Weakness making it two-in-a-row, while Bob Le Beau did it well in Naas.
We kept hitting the crossbar in Killarney but you’d have had to have been please with the runs there. Kate was just touched off on Takeyourcapoff by Nina Carberry in the ladies bumper and Auspicious Outlook and Spanish Auriga were third.
Moment of Weakness will run in the Marble Hill, a Listed race on the Curragh next. It may be a bridge too far for him but we don’t know yet. The races haven’t been taking anything out of him but you take it one step at a time. If he runs well there then we’ll really know what we’ve got and where we’ll be going.
People might find it strange that you don’t know exactly how good a horse might be but you don’t ever put the gun to their heads at home. You work them with what you think are good horses and but I don’t work them to find out what they have. They’re always working within themselves. You hope when they get to the track that they’ll improve but it’s only at the track you see what they can really do when the chips are down.
Bob Le Beau is a fine horse. He had a good run in Gowran first time out and then got bogged down at the Curragh. He’s a real good ground horse and it was very soft that day.
Again, you don’t know how you’re going to do in those races because you’re taking on Aidan O’Brien, John Oxx, Jim Bolger and the rest of them and you just don’t know what they have. I’m not saying it was a very good maiden, only time will tell, but it was good to win.
In time he’ll go on to stay a mile and a half and will go jumping. He could be a nice three-year-old hurdler when he comes back next spring. He’s a big horse but weak and still has to mature. But I loved his attitude in the race and when he came back he was bucking and squealing.
That was two winners too for the sire Big Bad Bob who’s been doing well lately. He’s down at Islanmore Stud in Croom, which is owned by JP McManus’ daughter Sue-Ann and her husband Cian Foley. Considering that has had a limited number of mares, he has done very well.
In Killarney, Fantoche was pulled up when a horse knocked into him at the second and he got a bit frightened by that. When that happens, you just get them back home and in good form, and try to restore their confidence by popping over a few. You just draw a line through the race because it doesn’t count. It’s not a true reflection of the horse’s ability.
It was the same with Spanish Auriga even though he finished third. He pulled too hard in a race in which they didn’t go a great gallop. He’s better than that but I knew he was fresh and hopefully that race will have him in better order for the next day.
It’s a quiet week ahead for me racing wise. There are sales in Doncaster this week and I’ll have six going that need to be shifted on. Some of them might end up going point-to-pointing in England. You have to sell them to buy them.
In the good old days, when there was a bit more money around, I used to buy horses on spec and find buyers for them afterwards. I don’t do that now unless I have a specific order or I see something that’s really good value. You can’t afford to be left with one.
I have a couple of runners in Kilbeggan today and none on Sunday. The ground is pretty firm and it’s a long season for the jumpers. If you wreck them at this time of the year, they’re wrecked for a long time. Hopefully I’ll have a good few in Punchestown next week though. I love going back to Punchestown.
There’s some top class flat racing taking place now and York was interesting during the week. It’s hard to get a handle on what way the Classic picture is turning out because there’ve been a few turn-ups and it was the same at York. It’s been difficult and I think the fact it’s been so cold hasn’t helped.
It was great to see Aidan winning the Dante with Cape Blanco because his horses haven’t been firing. It could well signal a turnaround in fortunes for him and if that’s the case, watch out.
