RACING:HISAABAAT CAN provide a smooth segue into the upcoming winter action by landing the final race of the Curragh's 2012 campaign this afternoon.
Dermot Weld’s dual Grade One-winning hurdler is as low as 20 to 1 in some ante-post lists for Champion Hurdle success in March after proving a revelation over flights last winter.
Winner of a lowly Ballinrobe maiden from six starts on the level in 2011, Hisaabaat’s jumping career got off to a bum start when unseating his rider at just the second obstacle.
Afterwards, though, he won twice at the highest level and finished runner-up on his other four outings, including in the Triumph Hurdle. He looks a totally different proposition now to when he last ran on the flat and is running in today’s mile-and-a-quarter handicap off a 4lb lower rating too.
With blinkers on, Hisaabaat looks one for the championship-chasing Pat Smullen to look forward to and having won at Punchestown in April, even today’s heavy ground won’t be a problem to him.
Smullen and Weld will also fancy their chances in the three-year-old maiden with Muntasaf who only failed by a nose to make a winning debut at Listowel.
Fast On couldn’t land a blow on Madeira’s Girl at HQ on Sunday but could appreciate a drop back in trip for the seven-furlong handicap. Jim Bolger’s call to drop Whip Storm back a couple of furlongs for the Nursery also looks significant considering a best career effort to date over a mile at Listowel last time.
Co Cork trainer John Murphy is making an early exploratory trip across-channel with his Racing Post Trophy entry High Octane who lines up at Leicester today.
Jimmy Fortune gets the leg up on the son of Motivator who won a maiden at Gowran Park in impressive fashion last month. “I’ve been finding it very hard to get some better ground for him, the ground has been terrible in Ireland and hopefully it won’t be too soft at Leicester,” said Murphy yesterday.
“He won well at Gowran and has been training well, we’ve been very happy with him. He is in a lot of big races later in the year, so we’ll see how he gets on,” he added. High Octane’s opposition includes John Gosden’s Seek Again.
