RACING: Racing luck tends to run in patches but if David Casey's remains intact, then he looks the ideal jockey for Cronin's Boy in tomorrow's Pierse Hurdle.
Casey cashed in a lot of the lucky stuff at Leopardstown over Christmas, where an unlikely sequence of withdrawals and injury allowed him pick up the Ericsson with Foxchapel King.
With the Gold Cup favourite, Sackville, also part of his portfolio, Casey is on a career high at the moment, and the big race highlights can continue with a vengeance in one of the most competitive contests of the season.
A field of 27 lines up for the first big betting contest of the year. It has had various incarnations in its time but whatever the title it has always been a puzzle.
Not that the ante-post punters think there is much to puzzle over this time. Sustained support for Doonaree has seen him backed down to 9 to 2 to give Pat Hughes a third successive win in the race.
Grinkov's victory last year at 11 to 2 indicates Hughes can get a favourite ready to win the Pierse; the booking of Tony McCoy is only encouraging, and it's surely significant that the other Hughes runners, Theseus and Lawz, have been all but ignored in the build-up. Doonaree's fourth to True Blue Victory over Christmas was also a perfectly adequate trial.
Since 1990 there have been five Pierse winners at 20 to 1 or more and three other double-digit priced victors in the same period. Against that, the likes of Grinkov, Graphic Equaliser (1998) and The Illiad (1991) have been popular successes, but even so Doonaree and McCoy look short.
Janidou was a significant mover in the market during the week, considering Arthur Moore's record of six victories in the race under its various guises. Willie Mullins runs both Joe Cullen and Adamant Approach, with Ruby Walsh on the latter after a good run at Ascot last time. Adamant Approach does appear to like good ground, however, and the wet weather forecast doesn't look encouraging for him.
Cronin's Boy has won five handicap hurdles, with two on the flat to boot, and is a proven operator when the conditions are deep. His Kilkenny trainer Eamon Sheehy has put a claimer on the horse on his last few starts, the last of which was a length and a half second to The Culdee here at Christmas.
Casey's strength and confidence can only help the horse, the almost inevitable strong gallop should be ideal and at general odds yesterday of about 16 to 1, Cronin's Boy appeals as a bit of each-way value.
Rince Ri brings a dash of class to the Leopardstown Chase but with 12st on his back, the double Ericsson winner faces a hard task.
The double Troytown winner, Lyreen Wonder, is one of only two others in the handicap proper but lurking only just outside it is Shannon Gale, who can finally deliver the big score he has always promised to. Christy Roche has given an upbeat report on his horses this week and Shannon Gale could be one to confirm that.
On Denny form at Leopardstown over Christmas, Youlneverwalkalone is impossible to oppose as he goes in search of a first victory over fences at Navan this afternoon. The eight-year-old got to within a couple of lengths of Moscow Flyer, a run that has Roche thinking of a tilt at the Moriarty Chase after today. If those hopes are to be maintained, then this task should be simple.
Johannesburg is a surprise finalist in the voting for America's Horse of the Year for 2001 (the Eclipse Awards) which will be announced next month. The Aidan O'Brien-trained colt, winner of all his starts last season, including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, features alongside hot favourite, Point Given, and Tiznow for one of American racing's most prestigious prizes.
