Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Flooring Porter out for the season

Not long back from Fiery Lucy’s run at Del Mar, William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell reflects on the Breeders’ Cup, provides us with an unfortunate update on Flooring Porter, and talks us through the latest for a selection of his other stable stars. 

Flooring Porter out for the season

Unfortunately, it looks as though Flooring Porter will be out for the season. He’s picked up an injury and his return date suggests he’ll most likely miss the rest of this campaign. The timing of it means it’s unlikely he will be able to make it back for the big meetings in the spring, so it’s in the best interest of the horse to give him all the time he needs to recover.

He’s been a real star for us so far so it’s really unfortunate that we won’t be able to see him again this term. He’s given connections some amazing days up until now and hopefully there will be many more of those to come.

Unlucky Lucy didn’t have things her way

In Flat racing the draw is the first obstacle you have to overcome and we got a little bit unlucky in that respect in the Breeders’ Cup, being out so wide in stall 11. You need luck when you’re drawn wide and Fiery Lucy just didn’t get that.

She got bumped twice on the first bend and was shuffled back into second-last turning into the back straight. Gary Carroll had to use a bit of her energy to get her back into a position and that just told as she didn’t run through the line. She got a nice run through in the home straight, but I just think she paid the price for what happened earlier in the race. With a better draw or a nicer run she could’ve been even closer.

She’s not actually entered in the 1000 Guineas, but we’ll have a think about it over the winter. She’s not the biggest filly so it’ll be a challenge for her to train on into next year, but we’re hopeful that she will.

Closer look at some of our stable stars

Our star mare last season was Limerick Lace and she finished off her campaign with a valiant effort in the Grand National. She came out of the race, and the season as a whole, well and really earned her summer break.

She’s trained well since she came back but she definitely wants some rain, which we haven’t really had yet this season. Her main target will be the John Durkan at Punchestown later this month, but she also holds an entry in the Betfair Chase at Haydock, although connections already have Corbetts Cross entered there. We have her in both just in case, we’ll see how things unfold and where the rain falls.

The Mares’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival will be her main target for the season, then with all being well she could potentially go to the Grand National again.

Another we have entered in the John Durkan is Inothewayurthinkin, and he’s also another that will need a bit of rain before he gets a run. He’s likely to go to the John Durkan as he’s now ineligible for the Drinmore at Fairyhouse in early December due to having won a Grade One last term.

His end goals will all depend on how the season unfolds. His name has been thrown into the ring for the Gold Cup but it’s a big step up to go from your novice year to being up against the big boys. The John Durkan will likely be his first step and we’ll have a fair idea of what his level is after that. His jumping will need to sharpen up, so we’ll see how that progresses.

Visionarian wasn’t disgraced in his Down Royal Champion Chase effort last month and he holds an entry in the big handicap chase on the Saturday of the Cheltenham November meeting. It may come too soon for him, but he also wants nice ground and you’d imagine that the rain will come eventually, so there might not be too many more opportunities for him.

He’s dropping back down from the three miles at Down Royal, but you can’t say that he didn’t stay the trip there. It might’ve stretched him a little and the two-and-a-half-mile trip round Cheltenham should suit.

A horse that looked very promising last season was Bioluminesence, before pulling up at Fairyhouse in her final effort of last season. Following that encouraging campaign over hurdles, she’s going chasing this season.

She’s another who needs proper soft ground so once again it’s just a case of waiting for the rain to come. She’ll start off in a mares’ beginners’ chase and we’ll see where we go from there.

We have a fair few runners this weekend whilst most of our stable stars are waiting for the rain to come at home. One I’m really looking forward to is Le Bugiste, who has his first run for us since arriving from Philippe Decouz’s yard, where Vauban was trained before joining Willie Mullins.

He’s won on the Flat over in France and has his first run over hurdles on Saturday at Gowran Park (2.12pm). We like the look of him and we’re looking forward to him starting off his career with us.

Our Cheltenham Showcase winner Path d’Oroux will be out again on Monday at Carlisle for a graduation chase (2.00pm). He seems to have come out of his last race well and looks raring to go again. Hopefully we can keep him on a roll and he can pick up another nice pot.