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Fairyhouse
review 22 July 2007
Positives:
John Oxx sent out his first juvenile winner of the season in Sharleez and she looks a smart recruit.
The daughter of Marju was heavily backed from an opening show of 7/4
into 11/10 and duly hacked up,
travelling
best and only needing to be pushed out to hold off the late charge
of Lucies Pride. The Oxx juveniles who win first time of asking are
generally worth following – Azamour, Alamshar and Sinndar all made
winning debuts – and her trainer reports the Aga Khan filly as a
real two-year-old type who could be supplemented into the Debutante
Stakes. Rock
Moss is a half-brother to Jim Bolger’s smart mare
Marionnaud and made an eye-catching debut in the 6f juvenile maiden
– he was an unfancied 12/1 shot and claimer-ridden but the penny
really dropped with him inside the last furlong or so and made good
headway under tender handling to get within a neck of the winner.
He’ll be hard to stop next time.
Negatives:
I
Confess has now had 5 placed runs in maidens over a
variety of trips and looks very one-paced. He’ll struggle to find
a race. Another Prendergast inmate Haatef
won his first pattern race in the listed Belgrave Stakes but he
remains something of a talking horse and will need to improve
significantly when upped in class. The form of this race is
worthless with the 95-rated Moone Cross (who was carrying a ton of
condition) just a length and a half back in second. Haatef has a
mark of 116 but has barely run within 10lbs of it in 3 runs this
season. Makishma’s
run of four seconds on the bounce is not an accident; she’s a
complete hound who made what looked like a winning move a furlong
out in the 6f handicap and took lengths out of the field only to
pull herself up in front. She’s a smooth
travelling
type who appeals as a type to lay in-running. Lisselan
Eagle was a strong-looking jolly for the 9f handicap but
the 6/4 shot made very heavy weather of winning and is one to oppose
upped in class next time. He’ll struggle to find a weaker handicap
than this and it was only Tipolino’s reluctance to go through with
his effort that allowed the Weld runner to get up.
Pointers:
Essex
won the Grade 3 Grimes Hurdle at Tipperary, again showing that
he’s a very hard to beat
when fresh. Since joining the Michael O’Brien yard, his record
when returning after a break of 2 months or more (give or take a few
days) reads:1121111.
His form figures on his other starts for the yard read:36102547454. Mojito
Royale was conspicuous by
his absence in the 1m maiden at
Tipperary but this looked a shrewd move from this trainer MG Holden,
as he was never going to act on the soft ground. He ran a fine race
on his reappearance behind Dressmaker and had some decent form as a
2yo, including the run behind Ferneley at Galway. He’s well up to winning
one of these weak summer maiden races, perhaps even at the Festival.
Raise
Your Heart continued the fine run of the Joanna Morgan
yard, landing the 9f handicap under a 5lb penalty for his
Leopardstown win on Wednesday. Morgan often bounces her runners out quickly when they are officially
well-in at the weights, and such horses are always worth serious
consideration.
Tony
Keenan
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