Plenty to ponder for Elliott as Romeo plays it a little too Coolio before Leopardstown burst
PLAYING IT COOLIO: Romeo Coolio and Jack Kennedy win for owners KTDA Racing and trainer Gordon Elliott with groom Matty Sheridan. Pic: Healy Racing
Relative to what is to come for the remainder of the meeting, Friday in Leopardstown was quite low-key. The highlight, however, was undoubtedly the manner in which Romeo Coolio overcame adversity in the Grade One Racing Post Novice Chase, to maintain his unbeaten record over fences.
Immediately after the race, trainer Gordon Elliott said that the distance was on the short side for him and that he will be going out in trip after this. That came after he was apparently caught flat-footed when Irish Panther went for home before two out.
Jack Kennedy had to switch him out to make his run and it took all of his persuasion to first catch the leader, and then to edge past his determined rival in the dying strides. To muddy the waters for the trainer, Kennedy was a little less concerned about the trip and felt his mount could learn a lot from this experience.
“The horse was very gutsy, we know he stays very well, and we’ll have learned a lot from today,” said Elliott. “I said to Jack straightaway that two miles is going to be too sharp for him, but he said, ‘don’t rule it out yet. He’ll have learned a lot from today as he was spending a bit of time in the air over his fences and was a bit slow away from them’.
“If we got soft ground on the first day of Cheltenham (Arkle Chase) you’d never know, and the beauty with these owners is that we can leave everything as late as we can. We can enter him in everything and then see what we do.”
The meetings started in perfect fashion for Elliott and Kennedy when Ballyfad made every yard of the running in the TRI Equestrian Maiden Hurdle. Strong in the betting as Leader d’Allier weakened, he travelled, jumped, quickened, and won in terrific fashion.
The day looked sure to get considerably better for the pair when stable debutant El Cairos cruised to the front going to the last in the Thorntons Recycling Maiden Hurdle. Fifth in the Champion Bumper, when trained by Gary and Josh Moore, he was in the process of making the perfect start to his jumping career when stumbling badly at the back of the final flight and eventually decanting Kennedy.
That left Murat, trained by Peter Lawlor and ridden by Cian Quirke, to edge out Doctor Du Mesnil by the minimum margin.
Kennedy and Elliott had better luck in the E-Auctions Novice Handicap Hurdle, and his narrow success over the strong-travelling but somewhat reluctant Money Dancer, proved to be the middle leg of the team’s near 18-1 Leopardstown treble. Two more in Down Royal and one in Limerick made it six on the day for the Co Meath yard.
After a couple of early disappointments, Willie Mullins got off the mark for the meeting when Narciso Has took the Grade Two Changing Times Brewery Juvenile Hurdle under Danny Mullins. In front early and again from three out, the juvenile galloped powerfully from the back of the last to the winning line to cement his place at the top of the ante-post market for the Triumph Hurdle.
“He ran a brilliant race in Fairyhouse, and we thought he’d improve from there and were kind of hoping he’d put up that performance today,” said assistant trainer David Casey. “I think there is plenty of improvement to come as well. We like him - he’s a fair horse.”
Kieren Buckley, who went agonisingly close to winning a first Grade One when he gave runner-up Irish Panther a brilliant ride in the novice chase, gained a small degree of compensation by guiding the Gavin Cromwell-trained Addragoole to victory in the Racing Post Handicap Chase.
Noel Meade, who went close with Money Dancer in the novice handicap hurdle, got on the board when The Mourne Rambler made a fine start to his track career by taking the bumper. Runner-up in a Portrush point to point on his only previous outing, the four-year-old quickened up sharpy under Darragh McGill to win readily. A full brother to Sixshooter and She’s A Star, who were smart sorts for the stable, he has the potential to be even better than they were.
