Sean Flanagan’s William Hill blog: Hoping D’Oroux can pave Path to victory

New William Hill Irish racing ambassador Sean Flanagan looks ahead to his rides at the Dublin Racing Festival and discusses the big talking points ahead of two brilliant days of action.

Leopardstown, Saturday

Noel Meade held Open To Question (1:50pm) in very high regard before he ran on the Flat. He thought he was going to be smart, but he didn’t quite produce his best on the level. We ran him in a juvenile hurdle at Gowran and he popped away at his hurdles really well. We thought he won well enough on the day, but I suppose the form of the race hasn’t quite worked out. His flat form has stacked up well though, especially a run a Leopardstown back in June and a couple of smart horses have come out of that race. If you go back to that form, he’s probably overpriced at 40/1. He could run a very competitive race and finish fifth or sixth.

Willie [Mullins] obviously has a strong hand, and the one Mark Walsh rides, Majborough, I actually saw gallop this week and he looked like a gorgeous horse.

I won’t call Joyeux Machin (3:00pm) a frustrating horse yet. He’s got a good level of bumper form and went and won his maiden hurdle really well. He went and won a novice chase back in the autumn and been competitive in good chases since, but he can be a little bit careful at his fences. He’s coming back over hurdles and I think we could see a bit better from him now. The only negative is he’s got a good deal of weight to carry, but he’ll like the ground and should run a competitive race.

Path D’Oroux is my final ride on Saturday in the Listed Handicap Chase (4:10pm). He was very unlucky on his second last outing at Leopardstown over Christmas, where he looked like he was going to win when the horse beside him gave him a bump jumping the last and he came down. Because of that he might be coming here better handicapped then he would have been had he gone and won that day. The favourite is the Joseph O’Brien-trained Solness, who ran well to finish fifth at Cork last time in what looked like a good race and then won a competitive handicap last time. He’s carrying a good bit more weight than us though, which is in our favour. I think we’ve a massive chance.

Gavin Cromwell form

Gavin [Cromwell] has been in phenomenal form recently and he has been having great success when he takes runners over to the UK this season. I’ve been over to ride a few for him and Gavin is great at picking out the races for them. He’s not been sending over a top level of horse, but still a decent level of horse. They’re horses that are getting squeezed a bit by the handicapper in Ireland and so he’s chosen to target a nice level race in the UK with them, and it seems to be working. Numbers and facilities wise, Gavin is always going in the right direction and the statistics are showing that.

Irish Gold Cup

Obviously, Willie [Mullins] is a fantastic trainer but it can sometime just take his horses a moment at the beginning of the season to strike their usual rock-solid form. He always manages to find that kind of form a week or so before the Dublin Racing Festival and that looks the case again this year. Galopin Des Champs was phenomenal on his last run and I do think he will take the beating.

I don’t want to take away anything from Fastorslow, he’s been brilliant too and is trained by a fantastic trainer in Martin Brassil, who will definitely have him on his A-game for the day, but he’ll have to be to beat Galopin Des Champs.

Racing fans heading to Dublin

For British racing fans heading to Dublin for the Festival, I’d say try and find a country pub for the real Irish racing experience. There’s a friend of mine that has a pub not far from Leopardstown called the Blue Light. It’s a fantastic spot and I’d imagine it would crown off the week if you head there!

Leopardstown, Sunday

I’m really looking forward to riding Feet Of A Dancer in the opener (12:40pm). I sat on her at home this week for the first time and gave her a pop over a couple of hurdles, and she seems in fantastic form. She’s off the back of a winning run over 2m4f the last day and now we’re dropping back in trip which might even suit her better. If you take her Galway run out of it, where she was well beaten after running into some trouble in running, she’s strung three wins together. Having had the experience of three handicap runs is a big plus, she seems well enough treated and we’re all expecting a big run.

The 2-mile Grade 1 novice hurdle (1:40pm) is a very good race, with the likes of Ballyburn, Slade Steel, Farren Glory and King Of Kingsfield all in there. I ride Fascile Mode for Thomas Mullins who was highly touted after a really impressive win in his first bumper last season but he’s been a little bit disappointing since. He did win a maiden hurdle in emphatic style in Punchestown back in October, and ran a creditably enough race, despite being beaten a long way in the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice over Christmas. He was beaten over 40 lengths into fourth, but it was still a decent effort. It’s a positive to have Grade 1 form going into a race like this, but he’ll have to step up again to trouble the top novices.

My final ride is aboard Vanillier (3:20pm) for Gavin Cromwell. He’s obviously a very good horse, as an Albert Bartlett winner from a few years ago and runner-up in the Grand National last year. This 2m5f trip is probably 2 miles too short for him though! He’s ran okay on his two previous starts this season and he seemed to be in fine form when I sat on him last week. You’d imagine there is a bigger target for him later in the season, but hopefully he runs a nice race. Of his rivals, one to keep an eye on off a light weight is Watch House Cross.