Angus McNae
Captain’s Blog - Hurricane Fly looked impressive winning the Irish Champion Hurdle
30 January 2012
I am heading to Kempton today to film the next edition of Planet Turf for Racing UK. I am delighted to say that I will be joined by James Willoughby and we will be chatting about all that has happened at the Dubai Carnival this year. I will not go through all the topics we are dealing with nor the horses as I do not want to spoil the programme for you. I will, however, flag up when it can be seen on the channel once the whole thing has been edited and made into a cohesive programme.
I hope you enjoyed our coverage from Cheltenham on Saturday and also maybe you picked up a few clues for the Festival itself. I am fairly sure that the action at Leopardstown yesterday was more informative as far as Cheltenham is concerned with Hurricane Fly impressing in winning the Irish Champion Hurdle. He is now odds on with at least one firm for the big race in March and in truth I cannot see him being defeated. other horses to impress at Leopardstown yesterday in the mud and the fog were the Willie Mullins trained duo, Boston Bob and Make Your Mark. Boston won the Grade 2 Novices Hurdle and Make your Mark was third in the same race. Boston is unbeaten in three runs and Make your Mark travelled like a dream until failing to see out the two and a half mile trip.
Both would be interesting horses should they turn up for the Festival. Boston is owned by Graham Wylie who is enjoying a renaisance with his horses at the moment and unlike some I thought that his Tidal Bay ran a cracker in the Argento Chase at Cheltenham. He is not going to win a Gold Cup but Saturday will have served to be a confidence booster for him. He lost his way with Howard Johnson and clearly had problems. He always carried his head high and I suspect that was because he had a wind problem and was probably bleeding. On saturday he jumped well and finished his race off well and did not carry his head so high. This run may just have helped him to enjoy racing again and clearly whatever Paul Nicholls has done to sort him out it has worked and I expect to see him run well wherever he goes next time. Just for the record he is not a horse who does not fancy it or is a dog, he is a horse with physical issues whose confidence has been blunted.
Time for me to prepare for my afternoon of filming at Kempton Park. I hope you have a succesful start to the week.
Today's Selections
2.55 Ayr - Something Silver
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