Ally Cascade Pedigree: Five-year-old gelding Golan (sire) - Nikkis Alstar (dam) Owner: Gigginstown House Stud Form: 3/12154- Racing Post Rating: 132h, Official rating: 134h After winning his bumper well he was only touched off by Jezki and we all know what he went on to do. He went and won his maiden hurdle after that but for some reason he lost his form completely afterwards. We’re going to keep him over hurdles. He has loads of ability and will run in about two weeks’ time. I hope he’ll be worth waiting for.
Ange Balafre 4g Ange Gabriel - Balafre Rose High Spirits Racing Club 24-51 RPR 108b A nice horse who won his bumper well at Roscommon. He ran well on his debut and I should never have run him at Sligo on bad ground as he was over the top. We’ll go over hurdles with him now and he should do well at that game.
Apache Stronghold 5g Milan - First Battle Mrs Patricia Hunt 133- RPR 124b This fella is an exciting horse. He was third in the Champion Bumper at Punchestown and he’ll go novice hurdling this season. He’s sharp and jumps brilliantly from what we have seen so far. We hope to be going to the big meetings with him and he’ll get 2m4f too. He might not be in love with heavy ground. We took him out of Fairyhouse on Saturday as I just felt the ground was too quick for him. He’s ready to rock and roll once we get a small bit of cut.
Bose Ikard 5g Brian Boru - Dolldyedee Robert Watson & Edward J Conroy 30-41 RPR 118h, OR 111h He wasn’t in love with the track when he won his maiden hurdle at Downptarick last time but he stayed on well and won well enough in the end. He will get 3m and should make a nice chaser in time. He is very ground dependent though and needs it good, so we’ll probably rest him through the winter.
Busty Brown 7g Mr Combustible - Misty Brown Sean J Murphy 2/13312- RPR 140h, OR 139h He did really well for us last season and we’ll probably send him over fences now. He stays really well and handles heavy ground which is good. I would say we’ll have him out this side of Christmas.
Corbally Ghost 6g Central Park - Classic Lin Mrs M Cahill 9111/ RPR 133h, OR 130h We had a terrible time with him last year. Any time we managed to get him ready to run, something happened. Paul [Carberry] thought he wasn’t getting high enough at his fences so he brought him over to his place and he rapped his knee there. He’ll be seen out soon and he’ll head over fences. He has a lot of ability and we’re looking forward to getting him back on track.
Cross Appeal 7g Cape Cross - Hadeb John Corr 4PP0PP- RPR 138c, OR 128c He gave us a great day when he won the Paddy Power at Leopardstown in 2011. We trained him for the Galway Plate last year and he was fourth in it but we decided not to do that this time around so we gave him a complete break. He’s been jumping fences since he was five. We’ll probably go for the Troytown at Navan with him in November and then back for another crack at the Paddy Power. Hopefully there is another big handicap in him.
Curley Bill 5g Heron Island - In Excelsis Philip J Reynolds 126-115 RPR 142h He’s done well this summer and won a nice €100,000 handicap on the Flat at Galway. He’s a sharp sort but is ground dependent and doesn’t want bad ground so we’ll put him away for the winter and come back in the spring. He’s a horse I like.
Dylan Ross 7g Shantou - Quit The Noise No Rush Man Syndicate 4P42-23 RPR 145c, 145h, OR 136c, 137h We thought the world of him once upon a time and on his day he is a very good horse. He has just been disappointing and seemed to get bogged down on soft ground last season. He started off well enough over fences but his form deteriorated as the season wore on. Hopefully we’ll be able to turn him around.
Fisher Bridge 10g Singspiel - Kristal Bridge Robert Watson 1/0P-424 RPR 145c, 140h, OR 126h, 118c I thought young Colin Keane had gone mad at Down Royal when he won the Ulster Cesarewitch but he was right and I was wrong and he held on to win. He’s quite an accomplished chaser but just doesn’t want soft ground.
Harvey Logan 4g Saffron Walden - Baie Barbara JP McManus 2S- RPR 113b We thought he’d win on his debut at Limerick and when he was beaten I thought so much of him that I rang JP [McManus] and told him who he needed to buy the horse that beat him [Waxies Dargle]. We thought he might win the Land Rover at Punchestown but he clipped heels and came down. He goes really well and is a horse that I like a lot.
Heck Thomas 5g Oscar - Good Heighway JP McManus 12- RPR 116h He won his bumper well at Punchestown and then was second to Just A Par in a maiden hurdle there. JP bought him in the sales but we got held up with him in the spring. He wants soft ground.
Il Fenomeno 7g Denon - Fabulous Charm Gigginstown House Stud 017-430 RPR 145h, OR 135h He won a good handicap hurdle at Punchestown but is just a bit in and out. We gave him some time off after Galway and he’s not long back in. We will try him over fences again and see how he gets on. He should win more races.
Ipsos Du Berlais 7g Poliglote - Isis Du Berlais Gigginstown House Stud P4P/2P4- RPR 147h, 134c, OR 138h I suppose you could say he’s been a bit disappointing as he has some snippets of very good form. He ran well behind Lyreen L egend in a beginners’ chase at Galway but then got a stress crack before Christmas. At least he hasn’t won over fences so he retains his novice status. He wants soft ground.
Maxim Gorky 6g Montjeu - Altruiste Gigginstown House Stud /F122-70 RPR 132h ,OR 123h I think there could be a big handicap in this fella and I could see him running well in the Boylesports Hurdle at Leopardstown after Christmas or something like that. At Listowel Davy [Russell] said he would have won had he not made a bad mistake at the second-last. He seemed to be going well at the time anyway He wasn’t beaten far in the Irish Cesarewitch on Sunday.
