Our man in Ireland has six more recent eyecatchers to put in your My Stable tracker, including a Dermot Weld representative likely to be seen at Galway.
Murkala – 4th in 7f fillies’ maiden at the Curragh, June 28
The fillies’ maiden on the Friday evening of Derby weekend at the Curragh has a history of producing smart sorts (the likes of Discoveries, Never Ending Story and Ylang Ylang have won it recently) and this year’s edition should be no exception given Lake Victoria narrowly beat fellow joint-favourite Red Letter, with three and three-quarter lengths back to the third.
They are impressive fillies but there were some notable performances in behind, not least from Murkala who was the strongest finisher at the death. Having travelled well in mid-division, she had to wait for the gaps to appear and once switched out she finished nicely without being unduly knocked about.
By one of the sires of the moment in Too Darn Hot, her Camelot half-brother won over a mile and a half so stepping up from seven furlongs next time in maiden company would look a good fit for her. She could be a smart type for Johnny Murtagh and holds an entry in the Moyglare Stud Stakes.
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Kentucky Gal – 3rd in 1m1f handicap at the Curragh, June 28
In the second-last race, the nine-furlong handicap, the third home Kentucky Gal is the horse I took from it.
With the bend riding very sharp all weekend, it was extremely hard to make up ground so this performance should definitely be upgraded. The winner Lord Church was winning his third handicap in a row and the pace-setting Blackcastle Storm, who followed him home, won at Bellewstown last week. There was another winner to emerge from the race as well.
Kentucky Gal, from stall 18, was understandably taken back to get cover early on but found herself well out of position and it was quite taking how she finished off under John Velazquez.
Given she’s had three starts in maidens and won on handicap debut at Gowran Park, it was a cracking run and off a 3lb higher mark on the back of that effort, it will be interesting to see where connections go. She looks versatile in regards to ground and distance.
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Blue Poppy – 7th in 7 1/2f fillies’ maiden at Roscommon, July 2
Serious Notions got off the mark in good style at Roscommon last Tuesday, going some way to justify her official rating of 88 in the process.
The race was run at a decent pace and she spread-eagled the field but there were a couple of eyecatchers in behind including the fifth home, Sirene Success, who now qualifies for a mark.
In the more immediate future, the seventh Blue Poppy also looks ready for a step into the handicap ranks. She’s had the three runs now, shaping with promise when quite well fancied on her racecourse debut at Listowel last June (quite well backed) and again when ninth of 15 in a Fairyhouse maiden earlier this year in May.
She has been allotted an opening mark of 64 and seeing as her half-brother Livio Milo won his maiden at the Galway Festival last year, there’s every chance we could see her lining up there in the coming weeks. She’ll be highly interesting wherever they go given her breeding and everything she’s shown to date.
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Leinster – 3rd in 1m2f handicap at Roscommon, July 2
While on the face of it Leinster let down favourite-backers in the three-year-old-only 10-furlong handicap a bit later on the same Roscommon card, he emerged with a lot of credit for this effort.
On a day where it paid to be on the speed, the winner and the second were to the fore throughout but Leinster – who had won over a stiff 10 furlongs at Down Royal previously – found himself more towards the back of the field and took time to get organised before making up serious inroads inside the final furlong.
He still showed signs of greenness and nothing really went to plan, but he looked like he wanted a mile and a half at Down Royal and basically confirmed that impression here having found himself on the back foot on a speed-favouring track.
I’m pretty confident he can win a middle-distance handicap off his current rating (85) and may be one for some of the better mile and three-quarter handicaps later in the season.
The seven-furlong maiden at Naas on Saturday had a strong look to it beforehand and it saw Swagman, who had shown promise on debut at the Curragh, just hold off another couple of promising sorts who had the benefit of previous experience as well.
It was, however, the performance of the fourth Truth Be Told that was most noteworthy in the context of this race. In fact, it was a beautiful introduction.
Dermot Weld’s well-bred Too Darn Hot colt, a half-brother to Eternal Silence who actually won in America on Sunday night, has an entry in the Group 1 National Stakes at the Curragh in September and looks a certain future winner.
The winner steadied the pace right up, the third and fourth furlongs run in 12:53 and 13:48 respectively, and Truth Be Told was done no favours having been held up right at the back of the pack. He found himself trying to make up ground into a quickening pace against experienced rivals and, to his credit, he finished off eye-catchingly, only beaten three-quarters of a length in total.
He ran the fastest two furlongs in the race according to RaceiQ and given his lack of experience and the way it all panned out, it was a huge effort. He would look highly likely to run in the colts’ maiden early in the week at Galway, given his trainer’s fine record in the race.
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Valinor – 4th in 1m3½f fillies’ maiden at Limerick, July 7
Valinor is the horse I noted from Sunday’s card at Limerick.
La Vita Nova won the competitive fillies’ maiden but the fourth home was held up early on and made good progress inside the final two furlongs, running on nicely at the end.
She looks like a future winner on the back of this debut and she’s from a family that trainer Joseph O’Brien knows well having had the half-sister Messidor.
While a sound surface would look key to her future prospects, she should improve enough from this to be very competitive in a mile and a half maiden on her next start.
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