Meeting Review: Leopardstown, January 25th 2008

Positives: With ground that was already described as heavy taking plenty of rain during course of racing, this meeting is unlikely to provide too many winners in the near future; even the fastest event on the card was over 14 seconds slower than Racing Post standard and most of the participants will have endured hard races here. Ross Accord however remains a well-handicapped horse on the evidence of his fast-finishing second in the 2m6f handicap hurdle and is worth another chance; he was impeded by a faller going out on the second circuit and was given plenty to do by Ruby Walsh. The Tony Martin-trained gelding marked himself down as a horse of some talent and versatility last time when dropping back to the minimum trip to win a competitive novices handicap on decent ground (the form of which is hot) and is unlikely to be hammered for this – he ran off 100 here and such a mark seriously underestimates his ability.

Negatives: Time Electric fell before the race began in earnest in the 2m maiden hurdle but he’s one I want to field against anyway; his overall profile is of a very disappointing animal whose reputation always makes him a shorter price than he should be. The 7yo was the only one the punters wanted here and he was sent off a heavily supported 6/4 favourite despite his last effort having looked fairly poor – though he finished second to Zaarito, it represented negligible improvement on his previous outings and he was readily put in his place by the 2008 Cheltenham Bumper favourite. Time Electric’s followers will have losses to recoup next time so he’s likely to a short price but he’ll be well worth opposing with any sort of creditable opponent. If horses are to be rated on the opponents they beating in their wins then Callherwhatulike must be a pretty poor horse; her 3 immediate victims in her trio of rules wins being Omas Glen, Bill’s Folly and Valley Of Giants. Such worries didn’t stop punters (myself included) sending her off an 11/4 favourite from a morning price of 8/1 in the 2m3f handicap chase but she jumped horribly throughout losing ground at nearly every fence. Barry Geraghty gave her every chance putting her up on the pace but she may have resented being asked to lead and has hinted at attitude on a few occasions in the past – she folded tamely when running in 3 miles graded races at this track last year, can carry her head awkwardly under pressure and has a worrying tendency to finish second. All in all, one to avoid. Sublimity is a serious horse on his day but you’d have to question Robbie Hennessy’s wisdom in running him in the Champion Hurdle and there’s every chance that he’s left whatever chance he had in Cheltenham behind him here. A strong pace was always likely with Colm Murphy employing a pair of rabbits to set it up for the eventual winner Brave Inca and the heavy ground was hardly ideal either while another largely overlooked factor was his lack of freshness – Sublimity is much the better with plenty of time between his races and this was his third run in 7 weeks and that’s not even to mention his abortive trip to England to run in the abandoned Fighting Fifth at Newcastle. He scoped badly post-race and it will take a training performance as good as this bit of placing was bad to reproduce him in peak-form for March. Corskeagh Royale has been really disappointing since finishing runner-up in the Champion Bumper with only a bit of Paul Carberry finesse and a poor ride from Andrew McNamara on Judge Roy Bean allowing him to get a win on board. His tendency to swish his tail under pressure was again in evidence in the 2m4f Grade 2 novice hurdle and his jumping didn’t pass muster either – he looks a hype horse to be avoided. Like a few Arthur Moore horses recently (Fistoulig, Stewarts House), Notable D’Estruval was a laughable price at 9/4 in the 2m6f handicap hurdle as he had a number of questions to answer – chiefly stamina as he looks best at 2m4f (despite his placed finishes in 3m events) but also his aptitude for hurdling as he’d flopped on his 2 previous outings over sticks off marks that his chase rating made appear very lenient. The 8yo might be off interest back over fences at the right trip but makes no appeal over hurdles whatsoever despite what the discrepancy in his ratings might say.

Pointers: One horse that could prove a ‘creditable opponent’ for the aforementioned Time Electric is Puyol as the form of the maiden he was second in at the Christmas meeting received a number of boosts over the weekend. The winner Kempes fairly gagged up at Navan yesterday, the third Roberto Goldback won the Grade 2 novice here while the eighth Chateau D’Eau did likewise in the handicap hurdle. On that form, Puyol looks sure to be breaking his duck soon; having won both a bumper and 2 mile flat race, he may be suited by at least 18f over hurdles but his proven heavy ground form means he’ll be hard to stop whatever the trip. With his form with Made In Taipan looking false, Jayo was probably plenty short enough at 15/8 in the Arkle but even so he should have finished a lot closer to his stable-mate Golden Silver. His jumping, so good on his previous starts, simply went to pieces and I suspect he may hate this track; he was an even money flop at the 2007 Christmas fixture and the Racing Post ‘Key Stat’ in their Arkle preview pointed out that he’d never run with 10lbs of his best on the RPRs in 3 runs at the course. Make that four after this. Brave Inca on the other hand is a horse that just thrives around here – his second win in the Toshiba Champion Hurdle brought his course form figures to:122111231. After failing to make the frame in his first four runs, the 11yo only once failed to make the three in 29 subsequent starts which is an amazing achievement considering he spent most of that career running in Grade 1 events. He’s a true credit to connections. In contrast to Robbie Hennessy, both Sabrina Harty and Noel Meade seem to have pretty shrewd in not running their charges Won In The Dark and Jered in the Champion Hurdle and their inaction could well prove the benefit of sitting on one’s hands before the end of the season. Both horses have been lightly raced with just 2 hurdles starts this season and while the ground on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival may just be too slow for them, they are right at the top of my shortlist for the Grade 1 at Punchestown later on. Both won at the Festival meeting last term and it’s a meeting where previous course form is a strong positive (see Punjabi’s win last term) – their relative freshness will be another thing in their favour.