The Betway ambassador and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner discusses his three rides at Downpatrick this Sunday, which kicks off with Robertjames in the maiden hurdle.
With the Irish & English Nationals on the horizon, it’s no bad thing to have a bit of a quieter spell to recharge the batteries, but I am looking forward to heading to Downpatrick on Sunday. I was actually looking at the National field the other day though, and with five of the top seven in the betting, I doubt any owner has ever gone into a Grand National with as strong a hand as JP (McManus).
Somebody asked me this week who I was planning on riding in the race, and whether there is a decision to be made, and my response was – in these big races, there’s always a decision to be made. You have to try and take sentiment out of it, and I Am Maximus gave me one of my biggest days in the saddle, but there wouldn’t be much between him and Grangeclare West, so it could come down to what conditions are like at Aintree in a few weeks. It’s such an exciting time, though, and we head to Fairyhouse and Aintree with some serious chances, so let’s hope everything goes smoothly between now and then.
Before that, I head to Downpatrick on Sunday for three decent rides. Robertjames kicks us off in the maiden hurdle (14:07), and I had a sit on him the other day, and he’s a lovely big horse. It’s never easy starting a horse off at Downpatrick as it’s a bit of a unique track, and Robertjames is a bit of a free-goer, so hopefully the hood will help him settle. Gunnery Sergeant and He Can’t Dance of Gordon’s bring a decent level of form to the table, but the owners of Robertjames sponsor the big race later on the card, so it would be great if we could give them a winner on their big day.
We then have Uncle Pat in that big race – the Randox Ulster National (16:27), and he ran a cracker behind My Immortal in the Grand National Trial at Punchestown last month. I actually thought I was a bit unlucky on him as I just got caught for a bit of room coming around the final bend, and it took me a while to get going again. It was difficult to split him and Fishery Lane, because he has certainly been improving of late, but Uncle Pat won a bumper here, and as I touched on earlier, it’s such a unique track, so the fact he’s proven he can handle it is a big tick in his box. He has that bit more experience too, which in a race like this also counts for a lot, and I just got off Uncle Pat the last day and felt he had a big pot in him, so here’s hoping that big pot is this weekend.
Finally, we run Strutter in the beginners chase (17:00), and while he’s clearly a horse with ability, he is a horse who has been very difficult to train, hence why we haven’t seen much of him on the track of late. He did jump well last time on his first start over fences, but he got very tired late on, so hopefully he can improve for that outing. Coming back a couple of furlongs will be no harm to him, and that last run might have just blown the fizz out of him, but Karafon is a horse we know well, and he undoubtedly sets the standard on what he’s achieved. Strutter will hopefully take a big step forward from that run last time, but whether that will be enough to beat a horse like Karafon, I’m not so sure.
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