RACING NAVAN REPORT:JESSICA HARRINGTON and jockey Robbie Power put the seal on a memorable weekend when Saludos bounced back to form with a vengeance in Navan's Flyingbolt Novice Chase yesterday.
The Harrington-Power team completed a Grade One double with Oscars Well and Bostons Angel at Leopardstown 24 hours previously and Saludos kept that momentum going around his favourite track.
Winner of his two previous Navan starts, Saludos arrived for the Grade Two pot on the back of a poor effort at Leopardstown where he burst a blood vessel.
“We gave him antibiotics, a week off in a field and now he’s back!” Harrington grinned. “He is not entered for Cheltenham. If Aintree came up soft there is a chance he could go there. But he is a heavy ground horse.”
Even with Cheltenham just a month away, the festival doesn’t feature on Voler La Vedette’s radar either despite Colm Murphy’s mare thriving on the longest distance she has faced to date in her career and winning the Ladbrokes Boyne Hurdle with a touch of style. With no Hurricane Fly to contend with, Voler La Vedette cruised through the race and had more than enough in reserve to out-kick Rigour Back Bob from the last. “That’s only my third ride for Colm and she travelled really well over the trip,” jockey Andrew Lynch reported. “Two miles is probably a bit sharp for her and she was finding it easier to travel today. I was always confident she would pick up when I needed to ask her.”
Voler La Vedette finished third in Cheltenham’s David Nicholson Mares Hurdle last year but will miss out on the festival this time. However, this Saturday’s Red Mills Trial at Gowran could be an option for her.
Murphy secured another Grade Two yesterday when Quito De La Roque ploughed through the testing conditions to beat Royal De La Thinte and set himself up for a likely tilt at Cheltenham’s four-mile National Hunt Chase.
“He enjoyed it out there. Heavy going is what he loves,” said Pat Murphy who was representing his trainer son.
Quito De La Roque’s rider, Davy Russell, had earlier scored on another Michael O’Leary-owned winner as the 14 to 1 Sweeney Tunes got the better of the favourite Dantes King in the maiden hurdle. The latter looked to be galloping all over his rival despite Sweeney Tunes drifting to his right before the last but a blunder at the final flight got Russell’s mount back in the mix.
“He’s everything you want in a horse. He’s the most honest horse you could get,” the winner’s trainer Shane Donohoe said. “He’s not the fastest but the slow ground helped and Gordon’s horse was unlucky with the mistake.”
The stewards held a prolonged inquiry into the incident before the last but left the placings unaltered.
Willie Mullins supplied the winner of the other maiden hurdle as his son Patrick steered Lios A Choill through in the closing stages to beat Jetson by a length.
“He jumped better going left-handed and he’ll be better in the Spring when we up him in trip,” the champion trainer said.
The Mullins completed a first and last race double as the newcomer Lord Gale earned a trip to Cheltenham for the Champion Bumper with a stylish winning debut. “Won in second gear” was the expression Patrick used. “He’s pretty taken with him and the owner is keen to travel across,” Mullins Snr said. “Everything we’ve asked him to do he’s answered but he’s really a chaser in the making.”
