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Bryan Cooper on the ball yesterday. Sweet on Diakali today
t’s an impossible race to solve. But one horse I like, if he returns to his novice form, is Shanahan’s Turn. He jumps, is running over what is probably his ideal trip. He won twice around Punchestown last autumn, including a Grade 2.
He’s racing off a nice weight (10-10), had a run over an inadequate trip in Killarney, and, although he’s been a bit ‘hit and miss’, he should have a cracking each-way chance.
The other Gigginstown runners today are Fill Your Hands in the opening maiden hurdle and Disputed in the 81-123 handicap hurdle.
It’ll be interesting to see how Fill Your Hands fares against Stuccodor and Thomas Hobson. I rode him in work a couple of weeks ago when he went well. And Tony (Martin) has probably had this race in mind for him.
But he tends to be quite free and his habit of jumping out to the left won’t help him around Galway.
I was very impressed by Diakali when he won the recent Grimes Hurdle in Tipperary. And I rate him the horse to beat in tomorrow’s Galway Hurdle.
I know he has joint top-weight. But he’s a graded horse, with a lot of class, running in a handicap.
He has rock-solid Grade 1 form, in Ireland, England and France. And, although he can be keen, he has run well in big fields in both the ‘Triumph’ and ‘County’ in Cheltenham.
You can make cases for plenty of the others, including Quick Jack, at the bottom of the weights. But nothing has the class of Diakali.