Moment of truth for Chaperoned
I had a wonderful time skiing in France and not even waiting six hours at the airport because of the four hour delay due to the Aer Lingus strike could put me in bad mood.
Everything at home was fine and the horses are in good order. The quality races are coming thick and fast now both here and across the water and we certainly have some real top class action tomorrow with Leopardstown’s four Grade 1 races and a terrific supporting programme as well.
I have a strong interest in proceedings and it’s always a thrill to be involved in these sort of races with a chance. That’s where you want to be, in there with the big guns and we’ve got our chances.
There wasn’t as much rain yesterday as was forecast and today was supposed to be drier so that should suit Chaperoned, The Bull Hayes and Oscars Well, but probably not Bostons Angel. You can’t have it every way even though you’d like to!
It’s a big ask for some of them, especially Chaperoned in the juvenile hurdle, but Bostons Angel and Oscars Wells have already won Grade 1s and if they were to win or run very well, I suppose they’d be the two I’d probably be looking to go to Cheltenham with.
There are some good horses in that juvenile hurdle but Chaperoned ran so well the last time, we just had to go for it and we’ll know a lot more about her after this.
Oscars Well and The Bull Hayes go in the Deloitte Novice Hurdle and this is an interesting race because at 2m 2f, you have a combination of two mile and 2½m horses.
For me, The Bull Hayes would probably be more of a two-miler, while Oscars Well is closer to a three-miler but you can expect a truly-run race which should suit him.
As I said already, Oscars Well was always coming here because of his very pleasing win in the Grade 1 at Navan. We’re taking a chance with The Bull Hayes but he won so easily the last time, if the same horse turns up he should run a big race.
It’s a very hot race though and we’ll work out where we’re going and what we’re doing after it with both of them.
The Dr PJ Moriarty Chase has only five runners and at 2m 5f could be a bit short for Bostons Angel but it was the logical step after winning the Fort Leney at Leopardstown in December.
I would be fairly hopeful that there will be a bit of pace despite the small field and I’d say Magnanimity will make it as he’ll want it to be as much a test of stamina as possible too.
Top of the Rock is my only runner in Naas today and I’d be hopeful he’ll run a good race. He’s got top weight but should still give a good account of himself, especially with Mark taking five pounds off.
Kate rides Saluting in the bumper. He’s a lovely big Presenting horse who is definitely more of a chaser than a bumper horse. Anything he does here will be a bonus and it’s all about the future for him.
I was thrilled with Dundrum’s victory in Down Royal and the way he did it. I thought that two and a half miles might be too far for him, especially in soft ground but he stayed every yard of it and jumped very well, racing with a tongue tie for the first time.
I thought Barry rode a beautiful race and he took it by the scruff of the neck, having it won before he came to the last.
Dundrum was booked in for a palate procedure the following morning at eight o’clock so he’ll be on the easy list for a while. He’ll probably run sometime in March and one thing you can definitely say about him as that he’ll be a better horse on better ground and I think we’ll have some fun with him.
Meanwhile, we are not that far away from the flat season starting up and we’ve had ours in and they’re going well. Some people might find it strange to be thinking about that with Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown all ahead of us but they won’t just turn up fit and ready to run.
