Gavin Cromwell
Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Aiming to get Inothewayurthinkin back on track for Irish Gold Cup
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell reflects on his notable runners of the Christmas period and look ahead to this weekend’s action from Naas and Fairyhouse.
Christmas Reaction
We were very disappointed with Inothewayurthinkin in the Savills Chase. He never travelled in the race and he barely even travelled to the start. The main thing is that he’s come out of it sound, we’ve done all our usual checks and we didn’t find anything wrong.
He seems to be freshening up a bit and hopefully we can get him back on track. He’ll have an entry in the Irish Gold Cup and that’s where we want to go next with him. He’s still working away fine at home, and we know the ability is there, we just have to get him right.
I thought Hello Neighbour ran well on his reappearance in the December Hurdle, but he was no match for Lossiemouth and Brighterdaysahead. That said, he ran with promise and we were happy with him.
He doesn’t have an entry in the Grade 1 at the Dublin Racing Festival and he’ll probably go in the two-mile handicap. It’s unlikely that he’s going to be classy enough for the Champion Hurdle and as five-year-old he’s probably more of a William Hill County Hurdle horse.
Only By Night’s run in the Grade 1 was a frustrating one after she was hampered. Marine Nationale was also hindered, and he made up much more ground, but he’s a much quicker horse. She just got shuffled back and couldn’t get into the race again.
She made up a lot of ground from the third last to the last, then she got a bit tired. On the whole, I was happy enough with the run given how it unfolded. I’m pretty confident, unless the ground is very testing, that she’ll have no problem stepping up to two-and-a-half miles for the Mares’ Chase.
I expected North Shore to jump a bit better than he did in the Grade 2 juvenile hurdle. He jumped a bit big early on, but he seemed to learn through the race. He probably went a tad wide on the turn in which didn’t help his chances, but the winner was very good.
It was a good run for his first go over hurdles. Hopefully we can build on that and he can be a contender in the Triumph Hurdle.
Naas, Friday
We have a few runners at Naas on Friday and Take Stock goes in the 2m2f handicap hurdle (1.13pm). It’s his handicap debut and a mark of 108 looks a little high. He is a nice, big, scopey horse so hopefully he can run well here and keep improving.
I think Coole Cafe can run a big rice in the bumper (2.13pm). She was declared for last Sunday and Eoin Staples was meant to ride as it’s a pro/am, but he’s since lost his claim, so Declan Lavery rides here. She’ll have to take on that extra seven pounds, but she’s still a nice light racing weight and she’s in good form.
Je T’Ai Porte seems to have lost her way a little bit, but she’s back over fences here in the two-mile handicap chase (3.45pm). She just did far too much in front the last day and paid the price for it. She can run very free and make things hard for herself, but if things fall her way she’s capable of running well.
Fairyhouse, Saturday
We start off with two runners in the four-year-old hurdle (12.00pm). In My Teens is a horse who looked to have potential but she’s been a little disappointing on her past couple of runs. She two starts ago at Fairyhouse and ended up galloping around for two laps of the track which wasn’t great. She just hasn’t been getting the rub of the green. There is potential there, but things just need to click for her.
Far Eclipse is likely to struggle at this level but he’ll still take his chance. He’s probably more suited to a lower grade than this once he gets a mark.
Noble Birth switches back to hurdles here (1.05pm) after he ran in the Listed chase at Leopardstown over Christmas. He made a very bad mistake at the sixth fence there, completely lost his confidence and never really got going again.
We’re hoping he didn’t have a very hard race because of that and we’re turning him out quick enough again. I fancied him to run very well there and he seems to have come out of it fine, so hopefully he can be competitive here.
We’ll have four runners in the Grade 3 Dan & Joan Moore (1.40pm). We had the 1-2-3 in the race last year and all of those will take their chance again here. I’m happy with them all, so it’s just a case of who turns up on the day.
The King Of Prs won this last year and might be the best chance of our four again here. He’s only a couple of pounds higher than he was here last season and he’s working away well at home, so hopefully he can run another big race.
Last year’s runner-up Path d’Oroux Comes here off the same mark. He didn’t quite perform as we’d hoped on his couple of runs over hurdles this season, but he’s back over fences here and hopefully he’s up to running well again.
Midnight It Is was third last year and he’s working away okay at home. He’s one of those horses where you’re never too sure what to expect and he can pop up when you’re not really expecting it. I’m happy enough with him at home, the race and track suits him, so hopefully he can run well.
We also have run The Other Mozzie. I was very disappointed with him last time at Kelso and I couldn’t really find any reason for his poor showing. He’s off quite a high mark and when you get up to this level things don’t get any easier. I’m very happy with him at home though and the distance and track should really suit him.
Stuntman Steve goes in the beginners chase (2.15pm). He’s had a break, it’s his first run back and it’s a big track to start him off at. I’m just hoping he puts in a good round of jumping and he should benefit from the experience.
Our final runner is Me Wee Bonnie Lass in the novice chase (2.49pm). I was disappointed with her at Cheltenham because she travelled really well, turned for home looking the likely winner and normally she stays really well, but she didn’t. She weakened going to the last and didn’t stay going.
It was a period when some of our horses weren’t running particularly well so maybe that was part of the reason. I’m happy with here at home, so hopefully she can bounce back from that here.
