Angels Dawn has sights on Thyestes
KIM Muir winner Angels Dawn is aiming to give her connections another famous victory before she is covered in the spring when she lines up in the Goffs Thyestes Handicap Chase today.
Trained by Sam Curling, the nine-year-old mare beat Gavin Cromwell’s Stumptown, a winner at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, by a neck at the Festival last March.
She went on to finish sixth in the Irish National after that and has had just two runs over hurdles this season in order to protect her handicap mark for this valuable pot.
‘This has been the plan for a good while,’ said
Curling. ‘She’s had a couple of spins over hurdles and she’s come on for those, the ground should suit hopefully and she has a nice weight, so she has plenty in her favour.
‘The testing ground helps, I don’t think she has to have it but she seems to handle it better than most. It will be very soft there. I think the Irish National was just a step too far for her, she’d had a long enough year, she probably just ran a bit flat but she still ran with plenty of credit. It was just a step too far in the end.’
Whatever happens at Gowran today, this looks sure to be her last season racing, with a stallion date booked in.
‘This is the aim this year and we’ll see how she gets on and then make a plan after that,’ said Curling.
‘She’ll be covered this spring either way, whatever happens. We’ll just see what happens after that, we won’t over race her anyway.
‘She’s been a star for us and owes no one anything.’
Barry Connell’s Espanito Bello has a curious record that has seen him win five times in 19 races, all at Naas.
The owner-trainer admits he has no real idea what sort of performance to expect but hopes the fitting of a first-time visor will help to secure a victory.
‘If we could put a sign up that said “Naas” I think that might help, all his wins have come there!’ said Connell.
‘He’s a bit quirky. We ran him in Navan the last day and he didn’t perform, I don’t know why, there’s no particular reason.
‘All I can say is he’s well. We’ve put a visor on him so we’re hoping that might have the desired effect.
‘He did run well in the race last year (fifth) off a long break. He has the ability, he’s well capable of winning a race like the Thyestes off the mark he’s on but he does come with a health warning. I’m going there hopeful, but I couldn’t be convinced how he’d run.
‘At the end of the day, he’s won nearly every year we’ve raced him, he’s won over €100,000, so if every horse you had was capable of doing that it would be great.’