Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LENING TOWARDS A HAYES TREBLE
Chris can seal feature hat-trick on Millitant
BY PETER O’HEHIR
OFF the track since October but with ground conditions coming right, Jason The Militant looks the one to beat in the listed Lenabane Stakes, the flat feature of Roscommon’s season.
Henry de Bromhead’s charge has proven himself a versatile money spinner, boasting an unbeaten record on the flat (two from two) and a hurdling record which includes wins at Grade 2 and Grade 3 level.
The eight-year-olds best form is with plenty of cut in the ground, so recent rain is a bonus as de Bromhead has withdrawn him three times due to unsuitable good ground this season.
Third to Saldier in a Grade 3 hurdle in Tipperary last October, Jason reappeared four weeks later to land the listed Finale Stakes in Naas, beating Azallya, with Layfayette, who has progressed to score at Group 2 level this season, in third.
Jason The Militant’s fitness must be taken on trust. But he’s rated 107, will relish ground conditions and might give Chris Hayes a third Lenabane success.
Paddy Twomey runs unbeaten and unexposed Beamish, with Declan Mcdonogh deputising for the suspended Billy Lee, while Ger Lyons is represented by both Licence, the mount of Irish Derby hero Colin Keane, and Yaxeni, second to Rosscarbery in the Munster Oaks (Group 3) last time.
Only two three-year-olds have landed this prize in the last eight years. And the pick of today’s bunch might be Jessica Harrington’s unexposed grey Fumata, who beat subsequent winners Waterville and Como Park in a Leopardstown maiden on his second start and is open to plenty of improvement.