It was great to add another winner to the board yesterday and today will be a mammoth task as we send 17 horses down to Gowran.
Our first runner of the afternoon is BY YOUR SIDE in the handicap hurdle over 2 miles. We would be top weight in this but thankfully we get a weight for age allowance thanks to being the only 4yo in the field. Sam Ewing has been booked to ride.
For the ladies auction maiden hurdle we have two runners, ELLIS BOYD REDDING and PURSE PRICE. Purse Price has been in excellent form lately and this race has attracted a very limited number of runners. She will be ridden by Georgie Benson who claims 7lbs. Lilly Pinchin takes the ride on ELLIS BOYD REDDING who has a first time hood for today’s race.
Our giant killer TEAHUPOO runs in the Galmoy and will have a Grade 1 penalty on his back. He loves absolutely bottomless ground and it looks like Gowran will be testing enough today. This will be the furthest he has run over so his Stayers hurdle credentials are on the line. Davy Russell takes the ride.
We dominate the feature race the Thyestes with a whopper 9 runners, as we have half of the field. ESCARIA TEN will have a difficult job as top weight in testing conditions and will have to run a career best with Adrian Heskin coming over to ride. PENCILFULLOFLEAD is second in the weights but we will be claiming off him with the skilled hands of Rob James taking off 7lbs. COKO BEACH can be relied on to run his best in these tough staying chases and hopefully today can be no different with Ben Harvey riding and taking off 5lbs. FRONTAL ASSAULT is another who has been in fine fettle this season and he get Kieran Buckley who claims 5lbs. BRAESIDE gets a chance at redemption and loves testing conditions he will be ridden by Denis O’Regan. Harry Swan will be claiming off DEFI BLEU leaving him with a lowly weight giving him every chance. PUNITIVE has been an incredibly fun horse since joining the yard and hopefully connections can continue to ride the wave with Jordan Gainford booked to ride. DUNBOYNE looks to have a nice mark in this but might find conditions challenging, Sam Ewing rides. Finally our bottom weight is FAKIERA who was so close the last day and seems to be in very good form. Sean Flanagan takes the ride ride.
For the handicap hurdle we have two runners NOBLE BIRTH and COUNTRY QUEEN. Noble Birth was a bit disappointing the last day and is top weight here today for this opportunity hurdle. We are going to claim with Corey McGivern and hopefully the pair get on well. Country Queen returns after a well deserved break. She was very useful during the summer and hopefully connections can have more fun today with Sarah Kavanagh booked to ride and claiming 4lbs.
Last but not least with have the bumper where we have two runners, ANKUD and SMOKEY PUTNUM. Ankud has recently changed ownership having impressed last time out. His flat pedigree should add plenty of speed to this race and Harry Swan has been booked to ride and claims 7lbs. Smokey Putnum is starting his career here and is the mount of josh Williamson who will have a very valuable 7lbs claim.
