Meeting Review: Navan, November 23rd

Positives: The form of her maiden hurdle win at Thurles made Dunroe Lady look one of the better handicapped horses off 95 in the 2m4f handicap hurdle but the 4yo has stamina doubts at trip having been well beaten on both her tries beyond 17f. Her jockey obviously didn’t have any doubts on that score and had her up with the pace throughout and she ran out an impressive 6l winner. With all the right horses filling the frame, the form looks solid and this improving type may not be done yet. The second in the same race Tom Doodle was having his first run since winning at the Listowel Festival in 2007 and should strip a lot fitter for this. He has enough back form – including a good third to Chomba Womba – to suggest he can win a handicap. The 2m maiden hurdle won by Mikael D’Haguenet [WON 3/1 - Navan, 14/12/08] [WON 1/3 - Naas, 4/1/09] [WON 4/11 - Punchestown, 1/2/09] [WON 5/2 - Cheltenham, 11/3/09] lacked any real strength in depth but there was plenty to like about the 4yo’s performance all the same. His yard rarely fires on all cylinders at this time of the year but they still saw fit to back him from a morning price of 6/1 into 11/4 on course and the result was never really in doubt; he travelled very well and overcome a peck at the second last quickly to fly up the hill. He looks ripe for a step up in grade and it could be significant that his owner (Mrs S Ricci) don’t tend to have bad horses – her only runners with Mullins in the last 5 years were Pomme Tiepy and Themoonandsixpence and it’s likely that this lad cost a few quid. For the second time in as many starts over fences, Good Fella [WON 9/10 - Fairyhouse, 1/1] wasn’t seriously put into the race and is probably in a lot better form than his recent runs suggest. Patrick Mooney’s 7yo looks like he’s being ridden to get a handicap mark for chases and will be of interest as soon as he gets one as he was very consistent in handicap hurdles around 2m4f last spring.
Negatives: Roches Point will undoubtedly be seen to better effect on a faster ground and an easier track but he should still have managed to win what looked a weak bumper beforehand – he looks a real bridle horse and is one to be against if encountering similar ground in the future.
Pointers: I have to admit to being bitterly disappointed with Alpha Ridge in the ‘Monksfield’ but given that he finished a distance and 27ls clear of the 125-rated No Full and Sarteano, there’s every chance he ran his race and Pandorama is simply a superstar. The Meade horse refused to settle down the back as the field couldn’t go fast enough for him but he still pulled 26ls clear of Alpha Ridge without being extended. A conservative rating of the form puts Pandorama on a mark in the high 15os and that’s not even allowing for the ease of his success – the only worry with him regarding Cheltenham is if he runs again in the Grade 1 over course-and-distance in 3 weeks time, it will be his fourth outing before Christmas which is a lot of racing for a young horse. The Troytown may have lacked a real handicap blot but it was very keenly contested and a few of those involved in the finish have strong patterns to their form – Notre Pere runs very well on soft ground or worse, with form figures reading:222113321F41 while the fourth Vic Venturi finished plenty close enough for a horse that is has never won left-handed, his form figures on right-handed tracks reading:21113126P25982. Jayo is another horse who may find improvement for going back right-handed though there was nothing wrong with his narrow defeat behind Top Of The Rock in the 2m1f Beginners Chase. He will have little problem winning a maiden chase the other way around, where his form figures read:5211PF113. Your Sum Man was made favourite for the same race on the back of a good chase debut behind Drinmore hopeful Forpadydeplasterer but he had a massive negative to overcome with his trainer’s stable form – Tony Mullins has trained just 1 winner from 80 runners over jumps since May.