Equinties - the Cambridgeshire day 1

Gm Equinauts

In this mornings Racing Post, Fahey gave a lovely tribute to his star horse WOOTTON BASSETT.

Described as a ‘turning point’ in his career, WOOTTON BASSETT was the horse who made Richard Fahey. In fact, Fahey believed in the horse so much that he knew he was a certainty in his first Group 1, Longchamp’s Lagardere.

Fahey’s love for the superstar, who he described as a horse of ‘wonderful nature’ and ‘kind’, didn’t stop when he left his yard. To this day, Fahey still looks up all of WOOTTON BASSETT’s progeny running, pretty much as part of his morning routine - like breakfast. A wonderful sentiment.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

SUPER SLICK

The Listowel Harvest Festival has been bubbling away nicely over the last few days, and yesterday was their feature fixture, with the Kerry National headlining proceedings.

SPANISH HARLEM, having been winless in 14 prior to June’s first Irish success, was the victorious horse in the big handicap, and he could well be a horse for this season’s Grand National.

He jumped very well yesterday, he stays, and he can handle faster ground if required:

Anyway, we don’t want to focus on him for the Grand National, we want to talk about two impressive novice hurdle winners from Listowel yesterday, and of course, we have to talk about DAVY CROCKETT. Firstly, he will be one of these ‘hype horses‘ this season, so be prepared to be sick of hearing his name very quickly.

He is out of ANNIE POWER, making him a half-brother to the two-time Grade 1 winner MYSTICAL POWER, and he sports those infamous JP McManus silks. Bless him, he’ll be running with the weight of punters money an expectations all season!

Even if he is a hype horse, he doesn’t necessarily have to be overrated, and based on Racing X’s response to yesterday’s four-length novice hurdle success, he may even be over-hated, rather than overrated.

So, what did he do yesterday? It was a bit of an egg-and-spoon race, but he won well. He almost approached the final flight a bit too quickly, and that’s why he landed on all fours, but Willie Mullins didn’t seem too bothered by his jumping at all. In fact, he thought he almost jumped like a Champion Hurdler, which is pretty bold considering we all possess the ability of sight.

Maybe that’s harsh. He was actually pretty good all the way around bar the last, but the second was rated 124, and he didn’t exactly obliterate him.

On DAVY CROCKETT, Mullins said: "I'm delighted he did that. For a horse on his second run over hurdles, he jumped so slick. He missed the last but he was so slick at the others and obviously takes after his mother. 

"What I loved is how he was able to come through on the inside. He has such speed and I could see him improving for the rest of the season when going up in grade. He could be a Royal Bond horse. He looks very sharp and could go for those big prizes."

We’re not going to pigeonhole him into being a birdie or a bust yet. He’s only had two hurdles runs ffs, and his pedigree clearly suggests he should be a star.

He’s now 12/1 for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in March, which does seem awfully short given the flat season hasn’t even finished yet but he could well improve, and jumping isn’t anything to be seriously concerned by, but… is 12/1 for a Grade 1 contest in six months something we’ll take a bit of?

F*ck no.

His Supreme price is too short, no doubt, but his effort in the Royal Bond against better company on softer ground will reveal a bit more.

Before we finish here, we just want to highlight I’LL SORT THAT, who won the opening maiden hurdle. He basically made all, and the overall time in his race was over seven seconds faster than DAVY CROCKETT’s win. They did go a bit of a crawl in DAVY CROCKETT’s race, but Mullins’ well-bred novice was only one-and-a-half seconds quicker in the final three furlongs, which isn’t too much considering I’LL SORT THAT went a more even pace.

He could run in a Grade 3 novice hurdle nto, and Declan Queally thinks he could be a horse for the spring festivals. Maybe he could be a runner in those nice 2m/2m4f handicap hurdles further down the line? Both I’LL SORT THAT and the runner-up, WHOLELOTOFBUSINESS (who made some fine progress late-on), could be worth following in low-level Irish races this season.

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