Here’s hoping Pathfork can do himself justice in Futurity
No matter how much experience I have had at winning big races at Cheltenham, Aintree, Punchestown and the Curragh, I still get nervous before the big races. And it’s probably even worse with the two-year-olds because you’re just hoping and hoping with them.
I will probably have slept in fits and starts last night and will definitely have been up early in the morning. It’s not that I’ll be hurrying out to the box to see that he’s alright or anything like that – you don’t go unless somebody comes and tells you that there’s something wrong, that’s for sure.
It’s just that you want the race to be on as soon as possible – now if you could arrange it – and you want the horse to do himself justice. Then it’s a case of wherever that takes him. If all goes well, you can dream again.
The owners arrived yesterday morning from Lexington in Kentucky and obviously you want the horse to perform when they’re making that trip. Bonnie and Tommy Hamilton run the Silverton Hill Farm over there and they actually have another horse in the race, with Longhunter being trained by Kevin Prendergast.
We’ve done a couple of pieces of work with Pathfork on the Curragh and kept him moving at the yard and that’s it really. There is no special treatment or special formula.
You’d hope that he has made normal progress because it is a tough task. Aidan has four in it, including Robin Hood who Pathfork beat first time out and has won since in Galway. Johnny Murtagh is taking the ride on Samuel Morse though and a lot of people would see that as significant, even if Aidan’s son Joseph is on Robin Hood.
Jim Bolger has Glor na Mara in the race as well and he was second to Zoffany last time out in the Phoenix Stakes. That was a very good run as Samuel Morse was almost seven lengths behind that day.
We got a good draw in seven which is on the inside. That was the same place as Laughing Lashes when she won the Debutante Stakes and it worked well for her so hopefully it will do likewise this time around. We’ll just have to see what happens.
We’ve always thought a lot of Pathfork but we will have a very good idea of how things stand after this because he is in against colts that have run in Group 1 company and are representing the big yards.
Mentioning Laughing Lashes there; we have decided to supplement her for the Moyglare Stud Stakes. She has come out of that last race well. We worked her yesterday and were happy with her. Much like Pathfork, we will know just how good she is after that.
This is a pressure weekend without too many runners but that’s not by design. It’s just the way it has worked out. The races haven’t been there for the horses this weekend. Some weekends, you have plenty of runners.
We had Bob Le Beau entered for the Ballycullen Stakes today but just felt it might be a little soon for him. It looked like it was going to be a good Listed race and that’s how it’s turned out.
Silverhand is rated 106, Drumfire 110 and Roses For The Lady 110 while Bob Le Beau is only rated 98. He would have been going off 9st 6lbs but would still have been wrong on the weights so it was better to wait longer, especially with the experience some of those horses have.
I was thrilled with his win in Dundalk last Sunday though. He was really good and did it very well. He did it the hard way too as he was up there all the way before taking it up two furlongs out. It seems to me that he is definitely improving.
Alpine Eagle was just touched off in the big handicap in Killarney. The ground was probably a little bit quick for him and it wasn’t until he pulled out onto the fresh ground where there was a bit of juice that he got going. He flew home but just ran out of time. Still, he ran a great race.
Gimli’s Rock runs in a four-year-old handicap hurdle tomorrow that used to be in Tralee but has now been moved to Ballinrobe. He has a lot of weight to carry but he’s in good form. It is his first handicap but it’s against four-year-olds only so I’d be hopeful of a good run, even if it is his first hurdle race since he won at Punchestown in April.
It’s Freezing and New Magic both go in Cork. It’s Freezing has a good draw, right on the inside and has improved since finishing fourth first time out in Naas. It took him some time for the penny to drop and I think he should run well.
New Magic runs in a conditions race. She won over a mile in Galway but we’ve stepped her up to a mile and two and again, we would be hopeful that she will run well.
