Mo Chroi

(Gavin Cromwell)

Dundalk, November 22nd

Connections afforded plenty of time to Mo Chroi after coming from the breeze-ups, where costing €62,000 from Sherbourne Lodge at the Tattersalls Goresbridge Breeze-Up in May, and he made a pleasing debut on the all-weather at Dundalk last week. The Galiway colt, who cost just €8,000 as a yearling, was easy to back and sent off at 33/1 for this introductory run in the colours of Patrick Sheanon. The manner in which he finished out his race was especially pleasing, clocking faster sectionals through the final two furlongs than anything else (as per RaceiQ), while staying on into third. The winner, who is highly regarded and could be bound for a Derby trial next spring, and runner-up were ridden much more positively than this late May foal. His best days are ahead of him.

Shuffle The Deck

(Ted Walsh)

Punchestown, November 23rd

On the face of it, there looked to be a fair deal of depth to last Saturday’s Punchestown maiden hurdle run over an extended two miles and three furlongs. The winner, Butch Cassidy, is a youngster who Henry de Bromhead seemingly has a lot of time for, while runner-up Sermandzarak was a good winner of the Goffs Defender Bumper at the Punchestown Festival when previously seen. That bodes well for what third-placed Shuffle The Deck seemed to achieve on his rules debut for Ted Walsh. The smart point-to-point winner, previously in the care of Derek O’Connor, shaped really nicely here and wasn’t unbacked beforehand (shortened from 9/1 in the morning to 3/1 in the ring). He travelled pretty sweetly behind the main protagonists and a mistake at the third last halted his momentum at the wrong time. That wasn’t the difference between winning and losing, but he would have finished closer, but for the error and showed a bit of pace as the race began to unfold. This Walk In The Park four-year-old looks a nice prospect in the colours of J.P. McManus.

Stay Gold

(Colm Murphy)

Punchestown, November 23rd

There was more than a hint of promise in the handicap debut of Stay Gold in what appeared to be a solidly-run handicap hurdle on day one of the Punchestown Premiere Weekend. Liam McKenna, sporting the second colours of owner Paul McKeon, didn’t force the unexposed five-year-old early on, finding his feet in mid-division. He was staying on nicely up the straight between horses, but really flew when seeing daylight - clocking a faster final furlong than anything else in the race, as per sectional data from Coursetrack. Being beaten five and a quarter lengths into fifth (in a 19-runner affair) was a pleasing start to life in handicaps. With a rating of 106, even if connections didn’t want to stick to handicaps immediately, you’d imagine Stay Gold would be very competitive in a maiden hurdle for horses who have run at least three times and have yet to finish in the first three. He’s up to winning races and could well have learned from this experience.

Argento Boy

(Willie Mullins)

Punchestown, November 24th

A bumper winner on debut last season before being set some tough tasks in Grade 1 company at Cheltenham and Punchestown, Argento Boy looks a maiden hurdle winner waiting to happen after coming up short on his return last Sunday. With Willie Mullins open about the fact many of his representatives are needing the run at this time of year, it was encouraging to see this half-brother to Champion Bumper winner Briar Hill shape as well as he did when second to The Big Westerner at Punchestown, with the winner hailing from a Henry de Bromhead yard that has its troops in excellent order right now. Argento Boy looks well able to jump, but was still a little sticky in spots, if being picky. This experience should leave him spot on to collect soon. His half-brother went off 2/1 favourite when falling in the Albert Bartlett 10 years ago. It wouldn’t be a massive shock if this five-year-old ended up tackling the same event should he progress as hoped from this comeback run (currently as big as 66/1 for that contest).