Gavin Cromwell
Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Inothewayurthinkin returns in the John Durkan
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell previews his weekend runners, including the return of Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Inothewayurthinkin.
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Inothewayurthinkin returns in the John Durkan
Inothewayurthinkin makes his seasonal bow in the John Durkan at Punchestown on Sunday (3.00pm). We’re really happy with him at home and he seems in great form.
The trip is a little bit on the sharp side for him, but it’s a nice starting point for this season. He’s a sharper, stronger horse than he was this time last year, so we’re hopeful of a positive run.
In my mind, a good run would be a clear round of jumping and galloping well to the line without being beaten too far. I hope he can be competitive, but you have the likes of Fact To File in there who is a faster horse. We’ll probably struggle to beat him on the day, but hopefully we can make a race of it.
I don’t know the final decision on who will ride Inothewayurthinkin yet – we’ll speak with connections on that. I suspect Mark Walsh will ride Fact To File having won the race on him last year, but we’ll have to wait and see. If that’s the case, I’d say Keith Donoghue will probably ride our lad.
Punchestown, Saturday
We have a few maiden hurdlers entered on Saturday at Punchestown. Ole Ole is in the three-year-old maiden hurdle (11.30am). He’s a nice horse who came from France and was third in a maiden over there. He schools really well, he’s a nice horse and I expect him to run well.
We have a handful entered in the other maiden hurdle (12pm). To pick out a couple of those, Sound As A Bell was a point-to-point winner who looks a nice horse. Hopefully he can run well. Take Stock ran well in a four-year-old point-to-point in the spring and we’re looking forward to getting him started here.
Tell Us This looked like he was running a nice race the last day in a beginners chase for horses rated up to 110. That was a much lower grade than the beginners chase here (12.32pm), so he might struggle to be competitive. Journey So Far looked like he’d run a big race in Navan the other day but was just a bit keen. I’m hoping the fences might slow him down a bit. He’s a strong horse who is working well at home, he’s just not bringing it to the track at the moment.
We have three entered in the Flat race (3.20pm), all of which hold entries in Sunday’s Flat race as well. Grandy Lane has sharpened up since his first run for us when he was second in a bumper at Clonmel and I’m hoping he’ll go well again here. He’s probably the pick of the three. Boycetown and Endless Talking are nice horses in their own right. I’m looking forward to getting a run into them and hopefully they’ll run well.
It’ll just be a case of weighing up entries and thinking how we split them up which will determine who we run on Saturday and Sunday.
Ascot, Saturday
We also have a runner at Ascot on Saturday, with Aspurofthemoment in the Berkshire National (2.05pm). We took him out of the Troytown because of a change in the going there. He wants nicer ground, and it looks like he’ll get that at Ascot.
Keith will go across to ride him and although it’s unknown whether he’ll stay the 3m5½f trip, we’re quietly confident that he will. He’s up to winning off this mark and he should have a good chance if he does stay.
Punchestown, Sunday
We start off on Sunday with three entered in the Risk Of Thunder Chase (11.43am). Vanillier starts his season here and he’s taken well to these banks races. We’ll stick to that route at the moment and see how things go. A return to the Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival will probably be his target for the end of the season. Final Orders and Peaches And Cream both had a run there last year at the end of the season and both took to it really well. It’s always nice to be able to change codes with these horses after they’ve lost their way a little bit and see them enjoy it. They’re both in good form and should give a good account of themselves.
