Our newest Betway ambassador discusses his six races at Leopardstown on Saturday where he rides the likes of Dschingis Desire, Kargese and Captain Cody.
Six rides at Leopardstown on Saturday…
I ride Dschingis Desire in the 3-year-old Maiden Hurdle (12:05). She’s a lovely filly who came over from France. She won a mile-and-a-half maiden over there and we think she’s going to make it into a nice jumper. Her work and schooling has been good at home. The form of the yard hopefully picks up and she’s one we like. She’s going to have to be good to win here as it’s so competitive at this meeting. I suppose we’ll know what we have at the end of the race, but we’d be hopeful that she’s good enough to contest some of the bigger juvenile races throughout the rest of the season.
In the Beginners Chase (12:37) I’m on the likely odds-on favourite Kargese. She will have improved a lot from her race in Cork, where she came second earlier in the month. Like all ours that have got a run, that will benefit her hugely. She took to fences nicely down there and actually seemed a little more relaxed over fences than she had been over hurdles – so that can only be a positive for her. The fact that she’s had a run, I think she can improve massively for that and I’m really looking forward to getting back on her. Lovely Hurling, another key contender in this race, won’t be any pushover as that was good form to be second to Kopek Des Bordes at Navan in November.
Hercule Du Seuil is an outsider but will have a role to play in the Grade 1 Chase (13:12). He had a nice comeback run in Navan. I think he’ll appreciate slightly better ground than he’ll encounter at Leopardstown and it’s going to be a huge ask for him. I guess I’ll have a good view of the race though. It’s good to see Champion Chase winner Marine Nationale back, Majborough will have to do things better than he did at Cork. Last season’s winner Solness adds a bit of spice to the race with his performance around the track from last year. I think Only By Night is a bit of a forgotten horse in the race, she had a good comeback run at Naas and was second in the Arkle so it will be interesting to see her in this company.
Le Divin Enfant is a real contender in the Future Champions Chase (13:47). It wouldn’t have been the strongest race he won at Thurles, but he was very impressive in doing so. To go and do that on his first run for us, that must have just been raw talent. He gave me a lovely feel at Thurles and brought a good level of form to Ireland from his days in France. His last race over there he was fourth to Nicky Henderson’s Lulamba, who has obviously been very impressive. Our stable also run Love Me Tender in this and that’s a good ride for Mark (Walsh) there. He’s three from three and the others have to take note of that. Skylight Hustle is another interesting contender so there’s a lot of depth to this race.
In the two-mile Handicap Hurdle (14:22) I ride Sainte Lucie. Her season sort of fell apart last year after winning impressively in her maiden at Punchestown. I guess the form of that race hasn’t been as strong as first thought. The horse she beat that day, Luker’s Tipple, is still a 118 rated maiden a year later. But as a juvenile filly we can certainly forgive her, and she took plenty of racing and has experience from that. I guess you’d be brave to be confident about her after the way her form petered out last year though.
My final ride at Leopardstown on Saturday is on Captain Cody (15:00). He was nine lengths behind Romeo Coolio at the end of November and that was decent form for his seasonal debut. He has some very good form in the book when you go back and dissect it all. He obviously has a lot of weight and there are horses in here that wouldn’t be as exposed as him and could be sleepers. I don’t think Captain Cody has reached his ceiling yet though, his run in the Drinmore was very taking and impressed me over a trip far too short for him. I’d love to win on him as my sister has robbed the ride off me and won on him three times in the past. Hopefully I can make up for that this weekend, it will be a nice pot to land. Elsewhere in the race the stable also have O’Moore Park and he could run a big race back on a sounder surface at Leopardstown. When you catch him on the right day he is good, you can’t forget that good run behind Caldwell Potter at Cheltenham.
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