Tawaagg can make most of opportunity
The seven-year-old would be a long way down the pecking order at Willie Mullins’ and doesn’t always put his best foot forward. He is, though, reasonably talented on his day and this is a suitable opportunity, with the equally frustrating Psycho surely the only realistic danger.
The selection’s last outing over flights was at the Listowel festival in September when taking fourth in the handicap won by Princeton Plains, a display which could be best described as adequate.
Tawaagg has, however, run three times on the flat in the meantime, the latest coming in a valuable contest at Leopardstown in early November when fourth behind the smart Hidden Universe.
Psycho, second to New Phase over hurdles at Cork and to Tranquil Sea in a chase at Clonmel, is hard to catch right and Tawaagg is given preference.
Mullins’ Felix Yonger is likely to go off at cramped odds in the INH Stallion Owners’ EBF Maiden Hurdle and should outclass modest opposition, on the basis of his second to the useful Daring Article at Cork.
The worry is that Felix Yonger seemed to struggle on the heavy ground that day, before staying on in the closing stages. He gets the vote, because there is no case to be made for any of the others!
Call Box is the choice in the N K Happy Christmas Handicap Hurdle, having shown his liking for this track when winning a beginners chase in October.
He then stepped up in class, again over fences, at Wexford when chasing home the 122-rated Blazing Beacon. Call Box runs here off a mark of 90.
