Keith Donoghue’s William Hill blog: Hello Neighbour reaction & Leopardstown weekend preview

William Hill ambassador Keith Donoghue reacts to Hello Neighbour shooting to the top of the Triumph market and looks forward to his weekend rides to finish up the festive period

I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Christmas Meeting at Leopardstown on St Stephen’s Day than winning the Grade Two juvenile hurdle aboard Hello Neighbour.

It was great to see him do what we thought he might do. It was a good performance and he will learn plenty from it. He was a little bit keen, but I thought on the whole he jumped well enough. He missed the second last and I probably just rushed him up a little bit after it.

Willie’s horse Lady Vega Allen was coming at us hard, but thankfully the line came in time. You would like to think he can keep improving and end up being a Triumph Hurdle horse, but he will go to the Dublin Racing Festival next.

Most of them will be in the same boat experience wise going to Cheltenham, but I think he would handle the occasion there in the spring.

Leopardstown, Saturday

I’ve three rides at Leopardstown on Saturday and three more on Sunday so hopefully I can get a few more winners on the board.

First up on Saturday is His Nibs. It is his first time in a handicap and his first time over two and a half miles (12.50pm).

He had some good bumper form last season, however 27 runners on his first start in a handicap will require him to be on top of his game. He is a good jumper so hopefully he can run a good race and looking at his bumper form you would think he would be a stayer. He will need a bit of luck here more so than most races.

I’ve got the ride aboard on Inothewayurthinkin in what looks like a red-hot renewal of Savills Chase (2.35pm), and you would like to think he is no forlorn hope.

He won the Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival last season, but that is a handicap, and the Grade One that he won was as a novice so he has got to prove it in open company now against the best horses so that is probably why he is the price he is.

He has to step up and show now that he can compete with the best horses. The trip in the John Durkan would have been far too short for him and we knew he would come on for it fitness wise. He has definitely improved at home, but this is a proper race.

A note of caution is that the ground will be borderline for him, but hopefully it will be okay for him as he would ideally like it slower.

At the moment we don’t know what sort of horse he could be in the spring. We are going to let him tell us. He would have to finish right behind some of these to be a genuine Gold Cup horse.

My final ride on Saturday is Velvet Elvis in the Pertemps qualifier (3.05pm). He is coming back from a fair lay off. He is probably a better chaser, but he is in off a good hurdles mark here and hopefully he can be competitive. I’ve sat on him at home, but he will improve for the run.

If he happened to get qualified then that gives him another option in March, but after this he will be going for the Thyestes Chase after this.

He ran in the Grand National before, however I would imagine he would be one for the Irish Grand National later in the season.

Leopardstown, Sunday

On Sunday I’m looking forward to riding I Am Lorenzo in the opening maiden hurdle (12.10pm). He was sixth in the two mile maiden hurdle at this meeting last year.

We gave him a good bit of time off after that and he ran a good race at Galway to finish second last time out on his first start of the season.

He is a horse we really like so we are hoping for a big show from him. He is coming back slightly in trip, but I wouldn’t read much into that as Galway doesn’t have a two-and-a-half-mile start.

Up next for me is Fenway Park in the novice handicap hurdle (12.45pm). He ran a good race at Navan the last day where the two miles six furlongs probably just stretched him a little so coming back to two and a half miles here will help him. I still think he is off a workable mark in a race like this.

My last ride is in the Premier Handicap Hurdle (3.05pm) on Bottler’secret. He looked good last season as a juvenile, but he hasn’t come back to the same form this season.

We are going up in trip with him here to two and a half miles for the first time so hopefully that will bring about a bit of improvement from him. We just want to try get him back on track.

You know as much as we do as to why he didn’t run his race last time at Fairyhouse. We have to try something to get him back on course and we have decided the step up in trip is it.

While I’m staying closer to home at Leopardstown Gavin (Cromwell) looks like he has found a good spot for Brides Hill to get another win to her name at Doncaster on Sunday.

It doesn’t look like the strongest of Listed races, but it is great prize money. She had a little bit of a setback, but she is going well now.

I’ll be looking forward to getting back on Brides Hill after this race and hopefully she can run in the Grade Two mares’ chase at the Cheltenham Festival after she missed the race last season because of the ground.