Frustrating run of seconds continues
Alan Quinlan, the former Ireland and Munster rugby international, is my apprentice trainer and I’ve really enjoyed working with him. Alan was like a lot of people, in that he never realised how much work actually took place before a horse made it to the track. The number of people involved was also an eye-opener.
Dundrum was Alan’s first runner and won so there was great excitement after that. Now it’s onto the final on Thursday at Leopardstown, where the five remaining contestants will have a horse competing on their behalf in the Leopardstown Cup.
There is great banter surrounding the whole thing, not just amongst the competitors but also the trainers. Joanna Morgan seems to have entered her entire stable in the race at this stage, so she’s definitely covering all her options. Willie McCreery, Michael Halford and Ado McGuinness are the others involved in the final.
I have entered Crystal Morning and Princess Severus. They’re my two most suited to the conditions of the race and we’ll be doing everything we can to win the competition for Alan.
The run of seconds continued in the past week with four. Second is better than last but it gets very frustrating all the same when you keep getting close but are not hitting the back of the net. In total I’ve been second 11 times since Remember Alexander won in Leopardstown just over two weeks ago so hopefully we’ll break that run sooner rather than later.
Space Race was the closest in the last week, missing out by just a neck at Naas on Monday. Galakina ran out of her skin in Cork on Sunday, while Native Palm ran jumped really well in his novice chase in Galway on Sunday. I was delighted with Why But Why in the three-year-old maiden hurdle at Roscommon on Tuesday.
On Thursday Bob Le Beau ran as he always does, giving it all but having to settle for third in the Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes, a half length and short head behind Sense Of Purpose.
My Galway was summed up by Got Attitude slipping up between the last two fences on Friday when it looked like he was going to win after jumping and galloping so well from the front. When that happens, you just have to wonder.
Siren’s Song was disappointing in Cork but she might have been in season which would have been an explanation for it.
Dragon Pulse was declared for the Listed Coolmore Hurricane Run Stakes at Tipperary last night but he was a non-runner as the ground was too quick. That leaves us with just two runners over the weekend as we go into a bit of a post-Galway lull.
We’re bringing Clouded Thoughts back to 2m 6f at Kilbeggan this evening. I hope the ground is good and quick there but I’m looking for a bit of rain in the Curragh for Remember Alexander in the Group 2 Keeneland Debutante Stakes. She’d like genuinely good ground so I don’t want too much firm in it for her.
She seems to have really turned a corner now. She broke her maiden in a Group 3 and, on that occasion, was much more relaxed than on her first run. All the smart horses are in there but she has as good a form as any of them and Richard Hughes rides.
Looking to the week ahead, the runners continue being a bit thin after Galway. Steps To Freedom and Bible Belt should go well at Gowran on Wednesday, while Gush and Silver Sycamore are entered in the two-year-old fillies’ maiden at Leopardstown the following evening. It will depend on the ground which one takes its chance. Canaille will run in the colts’ two-year-old maiden and he has come on well from his debut.
