Negatives: Racing Post stat-man James Pyman produced an interesting (if perhaps not detailed enough) study of the success rate of adding blinkers in last Wednesday’s edition of the trade paper and his most striking finding from an Irish perspective was the horrible record of Aidan O’Brien-trained runners when blinkered. Something like 47 Ballydoyle runners have run with the ‘rogue’s badge’ in recent times with just one winning and Four Star General further disimproved that record when coming second in the opening 6f maiden. This was the fourth time in 8 career starts that the son of Danehill Dancer has been a beaten favourite and he’s definitely one to swerve. John Oxx is probably my favourite trainer but even the great man has his share of dogs in training and, for the third time in as many starts, Ebashan looked a complete pig in the 7f maiden. If there’s something a horse can do wrong, Ebashan will do it and in his career to date he has swished his tail, held his head high, refused to go by the leader and downed tools in the closing stages. The winner Golden Sword hasn’t progressed a jot in his 4-race career and the fact that he so comprehensively reversed form with Ebashan from their previous run in similar conditions paints the Oxx colt in a very bad light. Having hit a low of 1.03 in-running, I look forward to getting him in the in-race market again in the future.
Pointers: Having once been rated as high as 105, Majestic Times has been out of sorts for much of 2008 and has dropped to a mark of 88. His fourth in the Joe McGrath Handicap was more like what he’s capable of and the conditions certainly brought out the best in him – his record over 6f on soft or worse now reads:12173034. Having once been beaten a head in the Ayr Gold Cup of 97, he might have possibilities in a handicap granted similar conditions. Muskatsturm brought some high class handicap form from the Cesarewitch and the October Handicap into the Finale Stakes and he very nearly upset proven pattern horses when going down by a neck to Jane Austen who got an inspired ride from Johnny Murtagh. The presence of Cesarewitch winner Suailce in third is another pointer to the value of the Curragh form and anyone looking for winners of staying handicaps in the coming weeks should commence their study with these races. In comparison with England, draw biases aren’t really addressed in the Irish racing media but it’s worth noting the importance of a high stall over 6f at Fairyhouse. The first four home in an 18-runner field in the premier handicap were drawn 17, 18, 16 & 14 and horses drawn low tend to get trapped very wide on the turn into the straight. With the jumps season getting into full swing, there were a number of pointers at the away meeting at Cork. Buenos Dias was highlighted here a few weeks back and he shaped with even more encouragement than on that run at Gowran when a good eighth in the 2 mile handicap hurdle. Ridden by a 7lb claimer, he looks like he’s being run into peak fitness and should be ready to strike in the next run or two, perhaps with a more experienced jockey up. There was a sustained gamble on Alpine Eagle in the 2 mile maiden hurdle (from a morning price of 6/1 into and SP of 7/4) and he probably should have won as his jockey was a little too confident aboard the formerly smart flat performer. The 4yo impressed with the way he travelled but a slow jump at the last didn’t help his cause and while he will have little trouble winning a maiden, improvement in the jumping department is a pre-requisite for a rise in class. Jamies Choice has been a revelation since dropped to the minimum trip and his win in the Alchemy Properties Handicap Chase brought his record over 16/17f to:B911111. He’s hard to get past when he gets on the lead and may not be finished winning yet as the handicapper won’t put him up too much for a hard-fought 2l win and the Irish 2-mile chasing division in notoriously weak. The horse that chased him home was the infamous Pom Flyer who has now gone 16 runs without a win, despite being sent off at 9/2 or shorter on 10 of those occasions. He continually finds ways to lose but is a rock-solid horse for placepot perms and/or place only bets on the exchanges.
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