Gavin Cromwell
Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Aintree reaction, Punchestown preview and weekend runners
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell reviews his Aintree runners, looks ahead to Punchestown and offers a preview of his chances at Ayr and Bellewstown this weekend.
Aintree reaction
It was great to get a winner at Aintree last week. We were delighted with Will The Wise’s performance in the Topham to turn the tables with Madara. Conor Stone-Walsh gave him a great ride and he took to the track and the fences well. It’s great to win a race lack that.
He’ll go on a break now and then the aim will probably be to get him back for the Galway Plate.
Final Orders finished seventh in the Grand National. It was a great run and I thought it was probably a career best. He beat some very good horses and the owners were delighted.
Perceval Legallois just never really got into the race and unfortunately unseated. It was too far out to say whether he could have got into it, but you couldn’t say he was done with either.
Another positive to take was Lennon Grove’s performance in the mares’ bumper. She was just no match for the winner, but I thought she ran a belter. She’s a slick jumper so I’ll think there’ll be improvement to come from her over hurdles. I’m looking forward to her next season.
Inothewayurthinkin on track for Punchestown
Inothewayurthinkin has come out of Cheltenham fine and has been training well since. He had the cheekpieces on in there and I don’t know how much improvement they brought about, but they didn’t do him any harm either. I’d say we’ll probably leave them on and I can’t see us reaching for anything else. He’s working well and we’re certainly hopeful heading to the Punchestown Gold Cup with him.
We’ve entered The Passing Wife in the three-mile Grade 1 over hurdles. He was bang there in the Albert Bartlett and he’s come out of that really well, so there’s no reason for us to think he can’t run a big race again at Punchestown.
The hurdle track around Punchestown wouldn’t be as stiff as it is in Cheltenham, which I thought will be to his benefit. You can’t stay he didn’t stay in Cheltenham, he maybe just hit the front too early and got outdone in the finish.
North Shore is fine after his fall at Leopardstown. He’s got an entry in the Grade 1 two-mile novice hurdle at Punchestown, but we’re undecided whether we go there or hold fire and go to a maiden hurdle in Killarney a week later. We’ll make a decision closer to the time.
Only By Night didn’t end up running at Leopardstown but she’ll be back for the mares’ chase here.
Ayr, Friday & Saturday
We’ve got three runners across the two days at Ayr’s Scottish Grand National meeting. Our first of two on Friday is Secret Force in the two-mile handicap hurdle (13:45). He was disappointing when he raced a bit behind the bridle the last day at Musselburgh. He’s in good shape at home and I’m hopeful he can run well here.
We also run Stuntman Steve in the two-mile handicap chase (14:20). This is a great meeting to have a runner at and the syndicate that own him were certainly keen to go here! We’re happy with him at home and conditions will suit, so he should be up to running well.
Then on Saturday we have Le Nez Creux in the opener (13:30). She’s a newcomer from France for Robcour and she’s won a few over there. We’ve been happy with her since she joined the yard and we’re looking forward to getting her started.
She has a much lower mark in the UK than she does in Ireland, which is why she’s starting off here. She jumps really well and I expect her to run a nice race here.
Bellewstown, Saturday
We also have a good lot of runners in Ireland over the weekend, including a couple in the William Hill Each Way Extra Challenge Series Maiden Hurdle at Bellewstown.
Keith Donoghue rides Glenrush Bay and I think this track is going to suit him. He’s a strong traveller and he should go well on this nice flat track.
Grandy Lane is a horse who has been a bit disappointing this season. We’re struggling to get our head around his past couple of runs because we’ve been happy with him going into them. We just can’t put our finger on why things aren’t clicking at the moment. Eoin Staples takes the ride and we’re running here hoping he can get things back on track.
We’re second in the stable standings at the moment which would mean a €5,000 bonus at the end of the series, and we’re not to far off first place for €10,000. We’d love to win it and I’m sure all the lads in the yard would, so we’ll give it our best shot.
