Paul Townend discusses his rides at Fairyhouse and Naas
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I am pleased to say the racing is going ahead in Ireland this weekend when I have rides at Fairyhouse and Naas.
My first ride on Saturday at Fairyhouse is Gauloise (13.58) who is a mare that has done nothing wrong. She has won two for us. We like her. Hopefully she can take a big step up now into graded class. It won’t be simple.
Delvino has to leave a disappointing run the last day behind her, but I wouldn’t rule that out. Royal Kahala won that race at Fairyhouse and I was really impressed with her. I rode Hook Up and she came and beat me snugly. She is one we have to beat.
Micro Manage (15.08) will have to behave himself a bit better than he did in Leopardstown. He was quite keen that day, but hopefully the run over hurdles will have helped as on paper this looks a nice opportunity.
He is a high-class Flat horse and his jumping seems to be okay so are hoping he can do the business.
Sunday
Over at Naas I start with a ride for Dermot Weld on Coltor (12.45). He had a good run, though was beaten a long way, behind French Aseel in Leopardstown.
He may have been a bit disappointing on his second run, but he was a decent Flat horse and it’s nice to be on him.
This looks an above average maiden hurdle so could take a bit of winning. You can make a case for plenty but hopefully we can make his experience count.
They look to have found a lovely opportunity for Bachasson (13.15). On ratings he looks well in. The drop back to shy of two miles might not be ideal but the ground will be plenty testing after the rain has come in which might bring stamina into play.
El Barra (13.45) reportedly burst a blood vessel in Leopardstown at Christmas and that’s always a worry but he was very impressive in a bumper before that.
He was a bit keen in Leopardstown but if we can get him to settle better that might help. We will have to hope what happened when he bled was a one-off.
Paul
