The Betway ambassador looks ahead at his four rides at the rearranged meeting at Fairyhouse, including one on the 2025 Cheltenham Champion Bumper winner.
It’s great that we operate in a flexible sport and some competitive racing – previously scheduled for Fairyhouse on Saturday – can now be staged in midweek.
I kick off the card in the first race, which is a four-year-old hurdle (12:45), on Macho Man / . He comes with a huge reputation but so does his main rival in this, Proactif. We’ve been watching them and riding them plenty at home and they look like two very nice horses. I like my fella a lot, although I guess a few of the others have far more recent race experience. Ours have come from France and they have loads of jumping already done. Our two are certainly very nice horses. I just hope it’s Mark Walsh (jockey on Proactif) who is looking at the back of me.
Next up is the Maiden Hurdle (13:15) where I ride Bambino Fever / . We were obviously disappointed to get beaten in Naas the last day, as she was such a good bumper filly. She was previously four from four including a big Cheltenham Champion Bumper win, so my sister Jody – who rode Bambino Fever that day – keeps reminding me. I think we might have run into an above average mare in opposition at Naas as we were both a long way clear of the third. That can happen, and if Gordon Elliott’s isn’t in the race we win well and are delighted. So there are positives to take out of it. Hopefully she can right that wrong by putting that experience to good use. That said, we’ll definitely be disappointed if she can’t make up for that defeat here. She does seem perfect after the last run.
I’ve gone for Blood Destiny / in the Grade 3 Handicap Chase (14:15). I remember a time where I couldn’t split him with Lossiemouth, and their careers have obviously gone different ways. I’m taking a chance on him on better ground back over two miles despite there being rain since Saturday. He’s been keeping good form and in good company. He just didn’t stay in Galway – up that hill you really do have to stay there. It’s not ideal giving weight away to everything in the field but he’s a high-class horse. He might just find handicap company easier and start enjoying it – that’s what I’m hoping, anyway. I’m going to let him go on and enjoy himself. He seems to be a very solid jumper and a graded horse in a handicap. He has top weight for a reason.
Finally on Wednesday I ride Port Joulain / in the Beginners Chase (14:50). It’s a massive drop in trip from his first run in a beginners, where he just ran a bit keen over nearly three miles at Punchestown on heavy ground and paid the penalty. He definitely has to improve on what we saw that day, which was disappointing. On the flip side, he jumped well for Danny Mullins for a long way, so he possibly just did a bit too much and got tired. This time of the year we’ll get a run into him and see where we are.
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