Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GIVE IT A LASH
Colt is favoured by conditions
THE Dermot Weld-trained, 87-rated Kailash sets a decent standard in the mile-and-a-quarter Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Maiden as flat racing returns to Navan this afternoon.
It’s a quick turnaround for the County Meath track following its final jumps meeting of the winter campaign on Monday. And it also marks the end of Peter Killeen’s reign as Racecourse Manager, to be succeeded by Aidan Mcgarry.
Winners won’t be easy to find in this early-season action.
But Kailash performed consistently as a juvenile and has rock-solid form claims in an 18-runner maiden.
A son of Mastercraftsman, he finished in the frame in three of his four starts, including a creditable second to potentially top-class Ballydoyle filly Santa Barbara, the subject of favourable reports this week, prompting a plunge which has seen her shorten into favouritism for the English 1,000 Guineas.
That Curragh run came in September. And it looked virtually inevitable Kailash would open his account before the end of the season.
But he only managed third spot, beaten less than a length, behind Sir Lucan in Cork on his next start and, starting favourite, he was then brushed aside by the impressive Cleveland at the Curragh.
Middle distances look sure to suit the Aga Khan-owned, Rosewell House colt. And he looks the logical choice here, with the Ger Lyons-trained Team Of Firsts, a close second to Taipan in Naas in November, and Johnny Murtagh’s 83-rated Skilled Warrior, helped by a recent run at Dundalk, the main dangers.
With Ballydoyle’s three-year-old maidens already on the mark last Sunday, once-raced HMS Seahorse should be tough to beat in the one-mile Racing Again Sunday 25th April Maiden.
The Galileo colt made his debut at the Curragh last July. Sent off at 14/1, ran a race full of promise to finish fourth behind Macswiney and his odds-on stable-companion Wembley.
Both winner and runnerup progressed to acquit themselves well at the highest level. And the selection had two subsequent winners behind. It’s a worry HMS Seahorse hasn’t been seen for so long. But if the mark speaks in his favour, he should prevail.
Today’s handicap action looks treacherous. But Jim Bolger’s Vocito, whose juvenile form included a second to Erzindjan in Cork and a third behind Magnanimous in a premier nursery in Listowel, appeals in the Follow Us On Twitter Handicap.
Rated 67, this fellow has been gelded over the winter and looks the type that could strike for Coolcullen.
And, fit-from-hurdling and from a stable in good form, Noel Meade’s (inset) Crassus should figure prominently for Colin Keane in the first division of the Navan Members Handicap.