GAVIN CROMWELL: Our brand ambassador looks forward to his runners over the busy festive period at Leopardstown, Limerick and Down Royal.
It’s probably the busiest time of the year for us with plenty of runners across the country over the next week or so. It’s great to have so many horses entered and it would be great if we could get ourselves in the winners’ enclosure before we head into the New Year.
Leopardstown 26th December
We’re looking forward to running Wolf Prince in the Grade 2 Knight Frank juvenile hurdle (1.10pm) at Leopardstown on St Stephen’s Day. He was very impressive the last day at Fairyhouse and although it probably wasn’t the strongest of races, he’s more than entitled to take his chance here. It looks a competitive renewal on paper with Henry de Bromhead’s Aspire Tower setting the standard, while Gordon’s [Elliott] is very interesting having come over from France. Our runner improved from Punchestown to Fairyhouse and he seems to have improved again since that last run, so we’re going there hoping for a big run.
Father Ailbe was another good winner the last day at Limerick. He’s gone up 10 pounds for that win though and that makes his life tougher in the novice handicap hurdle (1.45pm). He’s in good form at home and the ground should be to his liking as well. He’s capable of running a nice race, but he might be up against it in terms of actually winning it.
Callthebarman runs in the handicap chase (2.55pm). He tipped up at the final fence the last day with the race at his mercy and even though he fell, he’s gone up five pounds. This race has been the plan since then and while it’s a competitive 16-runner race, he’s a handy little horse and with any luck he can get himself involved again.
Limerick 26th December
Over at Limerick, we’ve got a couple of runners starting with Bajan Excell in the maiden hurdle (12.25pm). He fell at Cork last time, but the ground at Limerick should really suit him and we’d like to think he’ll be there or thereabouts. There’s a couple in there that look pretty handy, but based on what he’s done so far he shouldn’t be too far away.
Bay Ambition takes her chance in the mares handicap hurdle (2.05pm). She looked like she was going to win the race at Navan before she took a really heavy fall and it’s taken her a little while to get over that. We’re happy with her now though and two and a half miles around Limerick should be perfect for her, while Conor McNamara takes seven pounds off which can only enhance her claims. We’d be hopeful she can put in a really bold show here and she’d be our best chance of a winner on Boxing Day.
Down Royal 26th December
Mutadaffeq kicks things off for us at Down Royal in the beginners chase (1.35pm). He has struggled a little bit over fences and will need to step up on what he’s done so far to feature here. He was running really well over the summer, but that hasn’t continued over the winter unfortunately.
Our final runner on St Stephen’s Day is Railway Hurricane in the bumper (3.20pm). We bought him at the Cheltenham sales and we’re looking forward to starting him out here. Gordon looks to have a pretty strong contender in Farouk D’alene and it looks like he’ll be hard to beat, but I’m hopeful it will be between our horse and him as the rest of them don’t look as strong. Whether we’ll have enough to beat Gordon’s remains to be seen, but I’m confident he’ll run a good race.
Leopardstown 27th December
It’s looking like we’ll have two in the opening maiden hurdle (12.05pm) in the form of Theatre Of War and Pretty Fantasy. Of the two, Theatre Of War is the most likely contender. He’s been a bit unlucky so far and we’ve had this race in mind for him for a little while. Hopefully he can break his maiden tag and we’re looking forward to running him.
Ejayteekay, Jukebox Jive and Ilikedwayurthinkin run in the handicap hurdle (2.20pm). Ejayteekay is entitled to take her chance, though she is just struggling off her current mark having had a really good summer campaign. Jukebox Jive won the November Handicap well on his first start for us, before disappointing the last day at Fairyhouse on his try over hurdles. He travelled into the race really well but just fell away at the end so we’re hoping a drop back to two miles should really suit him. He’s another who goes there with solid claims. Ilikedwayurthinkin was very good at the Galway Festival winning twice in a week, but wasn’t quite as good at Fairyhouse when he took on the better horses. This is the natural race for him and he should run well, though based on that Fairyhouse run he looks a bit up against it.
Leopardstown 29th December
Brex Drago has his first go in a handicap chase (12.10pm). He’s fallen a couple of times but he’s actually not a bad jumper and just seems to lose concentration a little bit sometimes. He ran a better race at Navan the last day and we’ll get a better idea of where a mark of 121 leaves us after this. If his jumping holds up then he could have a say as the track and trip will really suit.
Duchess Ravenwaves has a couple of entries in handicap hurdles. She won at Hexham last time and comes into this in good nick. We haven’t quite made up our minds on where she’ll run next, but wherever she goes she’ll have a good chance of following up.
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