IT’S ARD TO SEE PAST LUKE’S MOUNT
THE progressive, Michael Halford-trained Ardla might prove best in the Dunmoe Rated Novice Hurdle, a fascinating opener to today’s Navan card.
This Delegator gelding, winner of a Punchestown bumper in September of 2020, looks like a late developer and has shaped well in two hurdle outings since bumping into 140-rated hurdler Jesse Evans in a flat maiden at this venue in October.
Having his second start over obstacles, Ardla finished a good second to Grand Jury in a maiden at Punchestown, form boosted when the winner chased home the classy Ginto in the
Grade 1 Lawlor’s Of
Naas Novice Hurdle.
And Ardla duly delivered in a course and distance maiden last time, making all for an emphatic win over Farmers Lodge, Deploy The Getaway and Harry Alonzo last month.
Acording to today’s weights, the handicapper has given Ardla a mark of 125. And he faces a difficult enough task in a tightlyknit rated contest.
Gordon Elliott is doubly-represented, running both course and distance maiden winner Au Fleuron, the mount of Davy Russell, and Ardla’s former stablecompanion Ebasari, a six-race maiden on the flat (rated 69) who made a very satisfactory start to his hurdling career when turning over hot-pot Adamantly Chosen on his jumping bow in Cork, when the pair stretched 27 lengths clear of the third, Enki Flacke.
Ebasari shouldn’t be underestimated, a comment which also applies to Joseph O’brien’s 128-rated Banbridge and the Gavin Cromwell-trained French import Un Des Flos. But I’m siding with Ardla, the mount of Luke Dempsey.