After her fall at Galway, Smiling Eliza was entered in a 2 mile hurdle race at Ballinrobe to get her confidence back. I was a little surprised to see her tipped by
Sporting Life given that the going was yielding at best and that she'd taken quite a nasty fall the last day. The most important thing is that she had the chance to get back out there again at all. There was quite a big pot for the winner of this race, €17,700 to be exact and all of the Gordon Elliott Racing Club were hoping she could snare it. Denis O'Regan was onboard, he rode her about this time last year at Killarney when she was on the verge of winning her first hurdle race.
Eliza got away ok on the inside but was soon last. They were well packed together as they hadn't sorted themselves out into the pairs they usually run in. Ballinrobe looks like a bit of a mad course with a steep, short climb up to the first fence not long after they start. Eliza had plenty of time to look at but she was very hesitant and dropped further back. From then on she was struggling and it was looking very unlikely we'd be scooping the loot. She did manage to stay in touch at the back of the main group for most of the race but when things got serious she was left well behind and she trundled home in last position about 50 lengths behind the course and distance winner Zoffalee for Trainer Andrew McNamara and Jockey Dillon Maxwell. Pip in the office said that although this was about getting her confidence back after the fall, they were slightly disappointed with her run but recognised that she'd had a hard season and was going to grass for a holiday.
Tapenade also had a run at Ballinrobe in a 2m 5f hurdle race. It had been suggested that he might go well on soft ground but he's had this and softer before and didn't perform so again I wasn't holding my breath. He definitely seems to be a longer distance horse as he has no turn of pace so this was going to be interesting. He had amateur Jockey Kevin Brogan and his 7lb claim riding to bring him down from 11st 10 to 11st 3lb. It didn't make any difference. Kevin had to push Tapenade along a few times on the opening couple of circuits but other than that he was fairly comfortable about mid division. Then, however, he was being ridden hard from about 4 furlongs out. He didn't pick up at all and was easily left behind by all but 2 of the field. Le Hatchette and Darragh O'Keefe emphatically took the spoils 23 lengths ahead of the second place horse.
Both horses were fine after their races but again the yard were disappointed with Tapenade. The latest thinking is that he needs better ground and a course that will suit him. He ran ok at Sligo last month and at Kelso at the beginning of the year. They were both fairly flat tracks over 2 miles. Maybe if he got something over 2 miles on a flat track we'd see more from him. As it stands he's proving harder than a Rubiks Cube to figure out.
Comments
Post a Comment