So, we decided to split up the string and Suprise Package will be running at Navan tomorrow in the valuable Tara hurdle. It’s pretty competitive (21 runners) but we think he has a decent chance and that view seems to be shared by the bookmakers who, at the time of writing, have him 2nd favourite at 5/1 (6/1 in a place). That seems a little short in my opinion but better than being totally unconsidered, I guess.
After Punchestown, I was approached by Olivia Hamilton from the Irish Field to see if they could feature me in their The Owner profile series; it must have been a slow week at the paper! She sent the questions over and I was allowed to say anything I wanted provided that, in total, I did not exceed 1600 words. I started slowly and was on track for 800 words but then decided to talk about my pet charity idea so, by the time I got to the last couple of questions, I was in heavy edit mode before finishing with 1597 words. One of my friends, after my Racing TV interview at Punchestown, commented on how loquacious I had become. That felt good until he said the same after this interview and I came to understand it was a synonym for longwinded. Of course, you all know that already!
Anyway, given there’s nothing going on at this time of year, here is the interview in the Irish Field
Irish Field interview (click)
You will note that I indicated that the next target for Suprise Package was tomorrow’s race so no surprise he’s turning up. More of a surprise is the that the ground at Navan, in the middle of December, is going to be yielding and not the normal heavy ground. This is probably the last race for him until March/April so, hopefully, he will enjoy himself and come back safe.
I think he has a good chance but would be scared of a few of the others: in particular Ballywilliam Boy and Folcano. Those two are well fancied but the one that sticks out at the prices is Feelgood Island who surely has more chance than his 50/1 odds would suggest.
I won’t be coming over this time due to a few family commitments in the US and also (and probably more so) the ongoing logistical issues around traveling. Kim and I are leaving in the New Year to spend the winter in Florida as our condo is being renovated and I just cannot take the risk, despite being jabbed and boosted, of contracting Covid and not being able to get back for two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, Kim is more than capable of packing up the condo and overseeing he move. However, me flying into join her in Naples may not be the best start to our 6 months down there.
At least this race commentary, which is brilliant, will help us deal with the virus:
For this reason, I will also be forced to miss Freedom to Dream’s next run. He will be entered, on Monday, for the Doran’s Pride Grade 2 Hurdle at Limerick on December 27th. The more eagle eyed of you will have seen that we also put in an entry for the Lawlor’s Novice Hurdle (Grade 1) at Naas on January 2nd. Both will be high quality races and we may be ‘flying too high’ but you only live once and it’s pretty exciting. He seems to have improved significantly since Punchestown and the only pity is that we have no real way of knowing how good that form is, with none of the placed horses having run since. I would not be surprised to see a couple of them out at Christmas but, by that time, we will have had to make a call as to which race to run him in.
Interestingly, he appears in the ante post betting for the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham – he is quoted at 33/1 (25/1 in a place). It’s all pretty meaningless at this point but, for someone like me, it’s still pretty cool to have my horse even in the betting
I will report back after tomorrow’s race and will also be writing a Holiday blog with some thoughts on the racing year. It’s been, as the Queen would say, an Annus Horribilis but I will try to find some light and humour.