CarlingfordLough can get off to flyer over fences
John Kiely’s relatively lightly raced six-year-old looks a real talent and it will be disappointing should he fail to get away to a flyer at this new discipline.
He was very progressive over hurdles, putting up his best display thus far at the Galway festival in early August.
Contesting a valuable 15-runner handicap, he cruised to victory, hardly coming off the bridle on the way to scoring by six and a half lengths.
Hopefully, Carlingford Lough will prove even better as a chaser.
It looks certain that he will go off at tight odds, so a more lucrative nap choice is Willie Mullins’ Who’s Cross in the Bumper.
He was beaten first time out at Clonmel and was then given a break of some two months, before reappearing at Sligo in August.
Who’s Cross looked a much sharper individual on this occasion, easing ahead over two furlongs down to beat subsequent winner, Darkestbeforedawn, by nine lengths.
Mullins can initiate a double with Twinlight in the City Publicans’ Charity Hurdle, even though he has to overcome an absence of 314 days.
Twinlight hasn’t been seen since Thurles in November when falling three from home, just starting to take closer order at the time, in a beginners chase won by the trail-blazing Rubert.
Prior to that he had some reasonable efforts over flights to his credit and the testing ground is not a worry
Noel Meade’s Muirhead is hard to oppose in the Ryans’ Cleaning Chase. He wasn’t disgraced when sixth to Bob Lingo in the Galway Plate and the conditions of the contest are stacked in his favour.
