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Irish Preview
7 July 2007
The racing in Ireland over the weekend is moderate stuff to say
the least with Bellewstown, which is little more than a dog track
though it does have a pleasantly relaxed atmosphere, taking centre
stage on Saturday evening and Limerick and Gowran staging poor fare
on Sunday. As such, I'll be taking a look back at the top-class
meeting at the Curragh last weekend, as the 3 day event is sure to
throw up plenty of future winners.
A Race To Be Reckoned With?
The 7f juvenile maiden run on the Friday evening of Derby weekend
has a fine record of producing high-class animals with Duke Of
Marmalade, Horatio Nelson, Indesatchel and Brian Boru among the
recent winners. Pattern performers like Alayan, Heliostatic,
Ferneley, Dress To Thrill and Ballingarry were all beaten in the
race so I certainly wouldn't be giving up on those who finished
behind David Wachman's winner Lisvale. The son of Danehill Dancer
lead home a trio of experienced runners, and both the second and
third are well up to winning at least a maiden, but perhaps the
horse to take from the race is Dermot Weld's Domestic
Fund. An extremely well-bred Moyglare colt, who is a full
brother to 2,000 Guineas winner Refuse To Bend, he was well-touted
before racing and ran a cracker to pull 3ls clear of the fifth,
considering he had a bad draw and was making his racecourse debut.
Being out of Gulch mare, the soft ground would hardly have been
ideal and he looks sure to win a maiden before going on to better
things. The 7f race on the opening night of the Galway Festival that
Weld has won with the likes of Grey Swallow and Bob's Pride in the
past looks an ideal target.
Form Lines
If the form of his previous race was anything to go by, Satu was
something of a certainty in the closing 1m maiden on Saturday and
David Myerscough's charge duly obliged by a comfortable 2ls. He had
run in a very hot Gowran Park race won by Eyeshal (twice placed in
Group 3 company since), and every horse from second to sixth had
managed to win a maiden subsequently. The Curragh race was nowhere
near that standard, with the runner-up rated just 65 but the
offshoot of this is Satu has been left on his initial handicap mark
of 80. He's well up to winning off that rating, and his breeding
suggests he should improve for faster ground.
Sandymount Earl was surprise winner of the last race of the
meeting for Jessica Harrington (more of her later) but it was
interesting that he provided another boost for the form of the 2m
handicap run at Leopardstown on June 6th. That eighth home in that
event, Streets Of Gold, had already run out an ready winner at
Gowran since and Sandymount Earl provided another endorsement to the
value of the form. This race could well turn out to be a good guide
to the big 2m amateur riders' event on the Monday at Galway,
sponsored by GPT. The second, Flamingo
Rainbow, is certainly capable of winning races as he was
given plenty to do at Leopardstown but I'd be very wary of
supporting the third home Baron De'L in any race. He's a complete
pig who's had 7 seconds and thirds in 17 racecourse appearances, yet
has not managed a win.
Trainer Angles
Jessica Harrington landed a long-priced double with Jumbajukiba
and Sandymount Earl on Derby Day, with both returned at 14/1. The
sight of one of country's top jumps trainers beating the flat boys
on the biggest day of the season may have come as a surprise to
some, but Mrs. Harrington likes nothing more than a tilt at big guns
of the flat on classic weekends. She won a 2yo listed race with the
16/1 shot Sahara Princess in 2005 while The Last Hurrah went very
close to landing a 1m4f Premier Handicap last term at 16/1 again. In
fact, in the last 3 years, Harrington has run 17 horses at the Derby
meeting with only 6 finishing outside the first seven. This record
is made all the more meritorious by the fact that just 3 were
returned at single-figure prices and I will certainly be looking out
for her entries at this meeting next season and beyond.
Interestingly, she withdrew Quartino
from the race won by his stablemate Sandymount Earl due to the
ground, and that 6yo is well up to winning a flat handicap off his
current mark of 62, though he will need quicker going. Celtic Dane
won the big 3yo 10f handicap for Kevin Prendergast on Saturday and
there are a couple of points worth bearing in mind after his
success. The son of Danetime, a sire of sprinters if ever there was
one having fathered the likes of Baltic King, Miss Sally and
Drayton, had yet to race beyond six and half furlongs before
Saturday's race. As such, he was hard to fancy, stepping up over 3fs
in trip. However, yet again Prendergast proved that there is no one
better at extending a horse's stamina beyond what seems there
optimum in getting him to win over a stiff 10f on soft ground. Like
Mark Johnston in England, he seems to be able to get horses to
outstay their pedigree and he has done this time and time again.
Mustameet, who to all appearances looked a miler last term, was sent
out to win the Group 2 Royal Whip Stakes over 10 while Mamlook, who
had yet to run beyond a mile, won a 1m5f at Wexford in May. The
second point relates to the quality of Prendergast's 3yos, who are
hitting the mark a hot 22% of the time, with a level stakes profit
of over 26 euro. He had plenty of smart juveniles last season,
including the Goffs Million winner Miss Beatrix, and many of them
have developed well over the winter. Haatef got a few column inches
for his win at Naas 10 days ago, but two I particularly like are
Aqraan and Red Molony. The first-named ran out an impressive winner
of the Ulster Oaks handicap at Down Royal recently, despite being
given plenty to do and a rise of 7lbs in the handicap is unlikely to
be enough to anchor her. She has a listed entry at Roscommon on
Monday but it is hoped she will be kept to handicaps for the moment.
By the same sire as Mustameet, Red Molony easily won his maiden at
Roscommon in early June and will be competitive off a mark of 87,
particularly on fast ground.
Pattern Horse
The more rain, and there was plenty of it, that fell on the
Curragh track on Sunday, the more the ground turned in the favour of
Danehill Music in the 1m listed
race, the second last on the card. Indeed, it had turned to a
quagmire at that time, officially described as soft-heavy. This fact
had not escaped punters, who backed the 4yo filly from a morning
price of 20/1 into an SP of 5/1 and the daughter of Danehill Dancer
duly landed the gamble, running out a half-length winner to Hard
Rock City. That success brought her record with heavy in the going
description to:12121, and the latter of those seconds was an unlucky
one when not getting the gaps at the right time. She is not world
beater, but revels in bottomless ground and will be of interest
again in the autumn when the rains come again (or maybe they're
still here!). Forget about her on anything faster, she simply
doesn't go on it.
Another recent Curragh winner who likes a bit of cut is Caheerloch.
His record on softer ground reads:1431 and could be capable of
following up at Gowran Park on Sunday. He went up 7lbs for his
latest win but the margin of victory underestimated his superiority
as he was denied a run until the final furlong.
Tony
Keenan
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