THE graded action over last weekend was run of the mill: Dinoblue came back to form on her favoured soft ground in the Opera Hat at Naas, Maxxum popped up with a win in the Boyne Hurdle as he does most seasons and Better Days Ahead made heavy enough work of the Ten Up Chase.

Perhaps the more interesting long-term performances came in maiden hurdles and bumpers. Lovely Hurling had caught the eye in a major way at Fairyhouse over Easter, shaping much better than his seventh-place finish after a bad mistake two out, and after winning a bumper in May, impressed with a comfortable maiden hurdle at Naas on Saturday.

He defied a 255-day absence under a confident ride from Mark Walsh, settled in mid-division and hampered by a faller four out, but he made up his ground easily on the turn-in and won with plenty in hand.

Quiet period

This win was coming during a prolonged quiet period for his yard, and he is worth upgrading for that, Colm Murphy commenting afterwards that he is a soft ground type and a staying chaser in time.

The winner of the opening maiden hurdle at Navan on Sunday, Honesty Policy, is in a similar mould.

He built on a promising first effort at Naas last month to win easily here though it didn’t look that way between the final two as he was travelling worst of the three that came clear of the rest.

But Sam Ewing had not gone for everything at that point, and he found plenty to pull away after the last, looking particularly genuine in the process.

Both his runs so far have been at two miles, but he looks like being suited by further, perhaps much further.

Bumper contender

Willie Mullins has had a quiet time with his bumper horses, with just three winners in such races to date in 2025, but he looks to have found a Champion Bumper contender in the last race at Navan in the five-length winner Copacabana.

A few trainers commented that this was a strong bumper, and there seemed to be money for a number of horses during the day, but Copacabana ran out a comfortable winner from two rivals with solid form in Burrows Drive and Coyote Spirit.

An impressive part of his win was how quickly he came back on the bridle when Patrick Mullins gave him a nudge and the steady pace here would hardly have suited given his trainer described him as a ‘lovely, big chasing type’ afterwards.

It might seem late in the day for a Champion Bumper horse to have his first run, but last year’s winner Jasmin De Vaux was similar, while Mullins has had a number of horses place in the race off a similar profile.

This year’s race also does not seem to be the strongest version.

THE opener at Naas on Saturday, a seemingly ordinary four-year-old hurdle, has become a big Fred Winter pointer in recent years, producing the winner of that race in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023, and this year’s running was of interest too, albeit with caveats.

It attracted the usual small field, but this was a well-run race where graded form came to the fore and perhaps the runner-up Murcia is the one to take from it.

Things went wrong for her here, as she got squeezed out 10 furlongs from home and her jumping seemed to suffer afterwards which meant she found herself badly positioned relative to the winner Bacchanalian turning in.

She made up lots of ground late and might be suited by a stiffer test while she was racing without a sex allowance here and is open to improvement after just two starts for Willie Mullins.

The concern I have is not with the filly herself and the promise of her run here, but rather that it is all too obvious and might be too heavily factored into her price next time, especially if she goes for the Fred Winter.

Joining the dots

If finding value was simply a case of joining the dots and matching up this year’s horses with the profiles of those from seasons past, everyone would be at it, but it is not as easy as that.

Yes, there are races that seem inherently more informative for big meetings like Cheltenham because of the fields they attract and where they sit in the calendar, but past patterns don’t always dictate future results.

Punters need to ask how useful is information that everyone knows and is that information already in the price, while also acknowledging that horses are individuals with each race presenting a new make-up.

Perhaps the true edge is in finding the Fred Winter horse that is well-treated and prepared for the race in a different manner?

Cromwell keeps them coming

WILLIE Mullins and the Grade 1s at the Dublin Racing Festival took up all of this column last weekend, but it would be remiss not to mention the trainer that put up most resistance to the Closutton juggernaut at the meeting, Gavin Cromwell.

From nine DRF runners, Cromwell had three winners, a runner-up and an eye-catching fourth with Inothewayurthinkin, Hello Neighbour giving him a first Irish Grade 1 winner since Flooring Porter over Christmas 2020.

More notable, however, were his two handicap winners as they point to a broader theme this jumps season that Cromwell has become the preeminent handicap trainer in the country.

In the 2024-25 season, he has won 33 handicaps, clear of Philip Rothwell with 25 and Gordon Elliott with 18, and more than that he has excelled in high-value handicaps.

So far this season, there have been 26 Irish jumps handicaps worth €30,000 or more, and Cromwell has won six of them with Flooring Porter, Perceval Legallois (two wins), Al Gasparo, The King Of Prs and Backtonormal.

Those six winners came from 34 runners which produced a total of 17 places, including a 1-2-3 in the Dan Moore and a narrow Thyestes runner-up.

No new thing

There is a skill in getting horses into such valuable races on marks they can win off and this is no new thing with the trainer; his Grade 1 winners like Flooring Porter and Inothewayurthinkin started off in handicaps while his other Graded types like Darver Star and Limerick Lace also climbed the ranks.

Looking ahead to the Cheltenham Festival, the ante-post markets suggest that Cromwell will be going involved in some more valuable handicaps there with recent eye-catchers Now Is The Hour and Total Look prominent in the betting for the National Hunt Chase and the Fred Winter respectively.

The treatment of such horses by the British handicapper will be interesting. Not all yards are handled the same in these races, and it might be that his success at home this season means their marks in Britain are increased as a result.