Sean Flanagan: Paul Nolan has a Beast to Unleash!

William Hill ambassador Sean Flanagan discusses his return from injury, some recent big racing from Ireland and his rides at Navan on Saturday and Sunday.

Things have been going well since I returned from a broken hand which I sustained following a fall a couple of weeks before the Galway Festival in the summer.

On the back of that I had to get some metal work in my hand so that ruled me out for five weeks, but I’m now very much back in the swing of things and the hand feels fine.

I’ve pulled myself together and I’ve been lucky enough to fill in for Conor McNamara, who has been out for a few weeks, at Eric McNamara’s and I’ve ridden a few nice ones there.

We are now starting to see some of the bigger guns come out, of which Marine Nationale was one of them last weekend. I wouldn’t be saying that because he didn’t win it would be a cause for concern. He had been off for quite a while, but he put in a clear round of jumping and it seemed like he galloped well to the line. He has got a massive engine and they don’t lose that overnight.

I would take plenty of positives out of the race as Barry (Connell, trainer and owner) is probably training him with Cheltenham in mind. Henry’s (de Bromhead) horses are in fantastic form and Quilixios is a very smart horse on his day. If they were to meet again in five or six-weeks’ time, I’m not sure if the result would be the same again.

Navan, Saturday

Looking ahead to this weekend, we have a good card at Navan where I have four rides.

I don’t have a ride in either of the Grade Two races but they look good contests. Henry (de Bromhead) targeted the Lismullen Hurdle (1.58pm) with Bob Olinger last year and he looked like he was going away to win it well, but he ended up only just winning it.

The ground might just be a bit of a hindrance to him this year with it being that little bit quicker. I’m not sure he will travel as well on it and whether he will he enjoy it when they go a bit faster remains to be seen. I wouldn’t fancy him as much this year with the ground being that bit nicer.

Zanahiyr is back in the race again and he is a hugely classy horse. He looked a little bit laboured on the ground in the race last year, but he was only a length behind Bob Olinger.  With the ground being that little bit nicer it wouldn’t surprise me if the result switched around the other way.

The Fortria Chase (2.33pm), which I was lucky enough to win in 2016 on Arctic Skipper for Vincent Halley, will be a very interesting race. Gordon (Elliott) is obviously very fond of Found A Fifty as they have him as a top chaser going forward this season, but the ground will be key in this contest.

He has a bit of experience over fences, but this is likely to be a different test for him as they will be going that bit quicker over the fences. The other negative for Found A Fifty is that both Banbridge and Captain Guinness will love conditions.

Banbridge will be especially hard to peg back on that ground. It just puts things under a bit more pressure for Found A Fifty, and he will have to have a huge amount of class to be able to travel and not make any novicey mistake. If he does put it up, and pull it off against those two horses, then he is a genuine Grade One contender for the rest of the season. He will be right at the top of the betting for the Queen Mother if he wins this as it will be a good strong test for him.

My biggest ride of the afternoon at Navan is aboard Milo Lises for David Kelly in the Grade Three novice hurdle (1.25pm). He had a fall at Perth on his last start for Willie Mullins, but his run before that at Punchestown was quite good. Hopefully we can iron out the negative of his fall the last day and it would be a massive run if he could place. He does have a bit of ability, but he does have a bit of ground to find on a few of these as several of them are quite unexposed.

I also ride Redstone for Gavin Cromwell in the beginners chase (3.08pm) on the card. He came with a quite high reputation, but after winning his first hurdle start he didn’t quite reach the level we thought he would.  However, he is a strapping big horse and we always thought jumping a fence with him was going to be his route.

Hopefully he will run a competitive race and we can then find his level afterwards. He has plenty of ability and we just want to see him put in a clear round and we can build from there. I could see him stepping back up to two-and-half-miles again, but he does travel well and this two mile one furlong trip will allow him to tip on that bit quicker.

As for my other two rides, I won a couple of times on Reflectionist (12.15pm) last season, but he hasn’t quite found his feet in two runs this season, however hopefully he can here.

My other mount is Metamorpheus (12.50pm) for Paul Nolan, who I also rode in the Fred Winter at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival. He has been a bit unlucky since, but seems in good form and hopefully, at this level, he can run a solid race.

Looking beyond this weekend there is a horse at Paul Nolan’s yard called Release The Beast that is worth following. He won his maiden hurdle first time out then he disappointed on his next two starts over them. He is going to run in a novice chase when the ground turns soft and he looks like a horse that ticks all the boxes for fences. He is a fine big scopey horse and his work at home is like no other. I hope that he can now bring that to the track.

Navan, Sunday

Ask Anything tipped up on his last run, but I wouldn’t be too concerned about that heading into the Troytown (2.30pm). I’m happy to take the blame for him finishing second and not winning at Downpatrick the start before that.

He was a little bit gassy with me and I let him go to the front, and he then wasn’t’ able to see it out as strongly as the winner. We just got nabbed finishing up the hill and I feel that was a race we probably should have won.

He’s a funny sort of fish, but he does have plenty of ability and gets in here off a nice racing weight, so we’re looking forward to him. Conditions will suit, he likes the track and are hopefully of a very good run.