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Would Spirit of Valour(2.25) be one?
I accept both sides of the argument here,the main negative one would be it was one raw, green ,debut.
He got a slap after just 2f.
But when he got the message late on he fairly flew without having a race, well backed and obviously thought of for that race.
Of his rivals Imagine If must have had a problem as been off a few months,his debut was likeable and next run was close up behind Intelligence Cross,good form and obvious danger.
I'm not really a fan of Soloman Seal though his debut 3rd got franked a bit today with the 2nd winning at Mallow.
Great Uncle and Arizona State look best of the unraced ,i think they would want to be very good.
It looks a decent evens shot to me? All comments pre race welcome.
I accept both sides of the argument here,the main negative one would be it was one raw, green ,debut.
He got a slap after just 2f.
But when he got the message late on he fairly flew without having a race, well backed and obviously thought of for that race.
Of his rivals Imagine If must have had a problem as been off a few months,his debut was likeable and next run was close up behind Intelligence Cross,good form and obvious danger.
I'm not really a fan of Soloman Seal though his debut 3rd got franked a bit today with the 2nd winning at Mallow.
Great Uncle and Arizona State look best of the unraced ,i think they would want to be very good.
It looks a decent evens shot to me? All comments pre race welcome.
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Sorry it was 2.05 Naas.
PP cut it at 20.27, the thread title is now non factual and has been obselete for over a quarter of an hour.
PP cut it at 20.27, the thread title is now non factual and has been obselete for over a quarter of an hour.
Doubt he will be Evens.
I don't like his breeding.
I don't like War Fronts and his dam is by a Kentucky Derby winner.
I don't think he will like any cut in the ground.
I think the six furlongs could be too sharp
Strangely enough this Maiden has an English challenger.
This race at first glance has a bit of depth
Solomons Seal has a right run up the Curragh with the second there bolting in in Cork.
Halford,Bolger,Oxx and Lyons all have runners.
Aidan OBrien also runs Arizona State,that always worries me,at the back end of each season some of his second strings start to land gambles..
I don't like his breeding.
I don't like War Fronts and his dam is by a Kentucky Derby winner.
I don't think he will like any cut in the ground.
I think the six furlongs could be too sharp
Strangely enough this Maiden has an English challenger.
This race at first glance has a bit of depth
Solomons Seal has a right run up the Curragh with the second there bolting in in Cork.
Halford,Bolger,Oxx and Lyons all have runners.
Aidan OBrien also runs Arizona State,that always worries me,at the back end of each season some of his second strings start to land gambles..
There is a 73% chance of showers there tonight,anything like the earlier ones at Mallow could well change it but want to be a fair bit of rain to turn it from the current good, good to yielding.
Fair point as with the debutantes, i think ideally 7f but 6 was okay at Curragh.Wary with debutantes usually,the how long is a piece of string maxim kicks in.
The 2nd string is costly, he has been playing it "straight" til now.
Unless Ger in particular fancies his, that debut was so eyecatching i can't see him not being odds on.
Fair play,maybe i am blinded by that run.
Fair point as with the debutantes, i think ideally 7f but 6 was okay at Curragh.Wary with debutantes usually,the how long is a piece of string maxim kicks in.
The 2nd string is costly, he has been playing it "straight" til now.
Unless Ger in particular fancies his, that debut was so eyecatching i can't see him not being odds on.
Fair play,maybe i am blinded by that run.
Surely one of the worst Naas cards in ages ,hardly worth a look and I love Naas ,might even be a day for a round of golf...
BIRDCATCHER DAY AT NAAS RACECOURSE this SUNDAY
The Birdcatcher Nursery will be one of the feature races. This race is one of the oldest in the Irish Racing Calendar and was first run just after the Second World War. Before looking at some of the previous winners of the race, it would be wrong not to mention a few facts about the horse Birdcatcher which this two year old handicap is named after.
BIRDCATCHER HISTORY
Birdcatcher’s dam was called Guiccioli and this winner of ten races was owned by Martin Joseph Blake, an MP for Galway in the first half of the 19th century. Mr. Blake did not think that she would be a good prospect for the breeding sheds and sold her to Mr. J.R. Hunter, a man who had been appointed the first Keeper Of The Match Book to the Irish Turf Club in 1817 but this did not interfere with his activities in breeding and racing his own horses. Mr. Hunter sent Guiccioli to his stallion, Roller, who got her in foal but he also was not convinced that the mare would produce anything worthwhile at stud so he offered her for sale, carrying her foal, to anyone who would give £30 for her. She was purchased by Mr Knox of Brownstown House, the Curragh who put Guiccioli, then an eight year old, to a stallion named Sir Hercules and the resulting foal was none other than Birdcatcher.
Shortly after his birth, Birdcatcher contracted severe inflammation of the lungs and it was feared that he would not live long. However, he pulled through and was sold as a yearling to Mr. William Disney of Lark Lodge, The Curragh, who owned and trained him during his racing career. Birdcatcher was an immature sort who only raced once as a juvenile finishing unplaced. However, on his second outing in the Madrid Stakes at the Curragh (a race which is still run to this day), he showed his great speed as he won easily from Maria, a filly who was claimed to be best of her sex in Ireland at the time. Birdcatcher followed up this success with another win in the Milltown Stakes before Maria defeated him by a head, with the weights very much in her favour, on his fourth start.
While Birdcatcher had shown plenty of promise, he had not accomplished anything out of the ordinary. However, his next race was the Peel Challenge Cup, run over one and three quarter miles at the Curragh, a race which was established in 1819 and named after Sir Robert Peel. This was one of the principal events in the Irish Racing Calendar at that time and he was opposed by a strong field, including a horse named Freney, winner of 27 races and described as a superlative performer while another highly regarded performer, Normandy, was also in opposition. In the race itself, Birdcatcher set off in front and was promptly never headed. Not only that, he was never challenged at any stage and the winning verdict was given as ‘over 500 yards’. Indeed, he was so full of running after passing the post, his jockey could not pull him up. The horse bolted and did not stop until he reached the cavalry barracks at Newbridge which was nearly two miles away. This was Birdcatcher’s greatest performance as although he won three more races the following season and was placed on three other occasions, including a narrow defeat by Harkaway in the Northumberland Plate to which he was trying to concede 20lbs, he could never quite re-capture the brilliance he showed when winning the Peel Cup.
However, it was at stud that Birdcatcher left an indelible mark on racing. He has been the most influential Irish horse to go to stud with more than half the winners of the Epsom Derby since the 1860’s tracing back to him in the direct male line. Even the mighty Northern Dancer can be traced back to him. In his first few years at stud, he sired Daniel O’Rourke, winner of the English Derby while both Knight Of St George and The Baron proved successful in the English St Leger.
The Birdcatcher Nursery has produced some fine winners over the years with legendary trainer Vincent O’Brien winning it on seven occasions beginning with Turbo Jet in 1962 and ending with Kyra in 1988. One of the best winners of the race was the Con Collins trained Abergwaun in 1970 as this one proved to be a top class sprinter in the next couple of seasons. Purchased to race for Vincent O’Brien at the end of his two year old career, Abergwaun went on to win the Rockingham Handicap at the Curragh and the Diadem Stakes at Ascot in 1971 while in 1972, he landed the Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh and the Sprint Cup at Haydock. Abergwaun raced on as a five year old with a notable success coming in the 1973 Kings Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. However, the 1972 winner of the Birdcatcher Nursery was to become even more famous as the winner, Star Appeal, trained by John Oxx on the Curragh, ended up winning the Prix de l’Arc de Troimphe at Longchamp in 1975 for German trainer, Theo Grieper, thus becoming one of the longest priced winners of Europe’s premier race.
In 1976, Kevin Prendergast’s Lordedaw won the Birdcatcher before proving successful in the Tetrarch Stakes at the Curragh the following season while John Hayden’s The Bean Sidhe was successful in 1985 before taking the North Ridge Farms 1000 Guineas Trial at the Phoenix Park six months later. The 1994 winner was Wild Bluebell, subsequent winner of the Concorde Stakes at Tipperary as a three year old while Marionnaud managed to win the same two races in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Indeed, both Wild Bluebell and Marionnaud’s trainer, Jim Bolger, has a fine recent record winning the race six times since Bertinelli gave him a first success in 1990. One of Aidan O’Brien’s first notable victories as a flat trainer came in the 1995 renewal with Kingsandvagabonds and he has added to that success in the intervening period with the likes of Flame Violet (1997), Colossus (2003) and Dark Cheetah (2004).
The first of eight races at Naas is due off at 2.05 pm on what is always a fiercely competitive card. The first two events are for two year old maiden races and in 2004 subsequent English 2000 Guineas winner, Footstepsinthesand, made a winning debut in the colts and geldings maiden for trainer Aidan O’Brien.
Must be SPIRIT OF VALOR's chance to follow in his footsteps tomorrow. © CM
The Birdcatcher Nursery will be one of the feature races. This race is one of the oldest in the Irish Racing Calendar and was first run just after the Second World War. Before looking at some of the previous winners of the race, it would be wrong not to mention a few facts about the horse Birdcatcher which this two year old handicap is named after.
BIRDCATCHER HISTORY
Birdcatcher’s dam was called Guiccioli and this winner of ten races was owned by Martin Joseph Blake, an MP for Galway in the first half of the 19th century. Mr. Blake did not think that she would be a good prospect for the breeding sheds and sold her to Mr. J.R. Hunter, a man who had been appointed the first Keeper Of The Match Book to the Irish Turf Club in 1817 but this did not interfere with his activities in breeding and racing his own horses. Mr. Hunter sent Guiccioli to his stallion, Roller, who got her in foal but he also was not convinced that the mare would produce anything worthwhile at stud so he offered her for sale, carrying her foal, to anyone who would give £30 for her. She was purchased by Mr Knox of Brownstown House, the Curragh who put Guiccioli, then an eight year old, to a stallion named Sir Hercules and the resulting foal was none other than Birdcatcher.
Shortly after his birth, Birdcatcher contracted severe inflammation of the lungs and it was feared that he would not live long. However, he pulled through and was sold as a yearling to Mr. William Disney of Lark Lodge, The Curragh, who owned and trained him during his racing career. Birdcatcher was an immature sort who only raced once as a juvenile finishing unplaced. However, on his second outing in the Madrid Stakes at the Curragh (a race which is still run to this day), he showed his great speed as he won easily from Maria, a filly who was claimed to be best of her sex in Ireland at the time. Birdcatcher followed up this success with another win in the Milltown Stakes before Maria defeated him by a head, with the weights very much in her favour, on his fourth start.
While Birdcatcher had shown plenty of promise, he had not accomplished anything out of the ordinary. However, his next race was the Peel Challenge Cup, run over one and three quarter miles at the Curragh, a race which was established in 1819 and named after Sir Robert Peel. This was one of the principal events in the Irish Racing Calendar at that time and he was opposed by a strong field, including a horse named Freney, winner of 27 races and described as a superlative performer while another highly regarded performer, Normandy, was also in opposition. In the race itself, Birdcatcher set off in front and was promptly never headed. Not only that, he was never challenged at any stage and the winning verdict was given as ‘over 500 yards’. Indeed, he was so full of running after passing the post, his jockey could not pull him up. The horse bolted and did not stop until he reached the cavalry barracks at Newbridge which was nearly two miles away. This was Birdcatcher’s greatest performance as although he won three more races the following season and was placed on three other occasions, including a narrow defeat by Harkaway in the Northumberland Plate to which he was trying to concede 20lbs, he could never quite re-capture the brilliance he showed when winning the Peel Cup.
However, it was at stud that Birdcatcher left an indelible mark on racing. He has been the most influential Irish horse to go to stud with more than half the winners of the Epsom Derby since the 1860’s tracing back to him in the direct male line. Even the mighty Northern Dancer can be traced back to him. In his first few years at stud, he sired Daniel O’Rourke, winner of the English Derby while both Knight Of St George and The Baron proved successful in the English St Leger.
The Birdcatcher Nursery has produced some fine winners over the years with legendary trainer Vincent O’Brien winning it on seven occasions beginning with Turbo Jet in 1962 and ending with Kyra in 1988. One of the best winners of the race was the Con Collins trained Abergwaun in 1970 as this one proved to be a top class sprinter in the next couple of seasons. Purchased to race for Vincent O’Brien at the end of his two year old career, Abergwaun went on to win the Rockingham Handicap at the Curragh and the Diadem Stakes at Ascot in 1971 while in 1972, he landed the Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh and the Sprint Cup at Haydock. Abergwaun raced on as a five year old with a notable success coming in the 1973 Kings Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. However, the 1972 winner of the Birdcatcher Nursery was to become even more famous as the winner, Star Appeal, trained by John Oxx on the Curragh, ended up winning the Prix de l’Arc de Troimphe at Longchamp in 1975 for German trainer, Theo Grieper, thus becoming one of the longest priced winners of Europe’s premier race.
In 1976, Kevin Prendergast’s Lordedaw won the Birdcatcher before proving successful in the Tetrarch Stakes at the Curragh the following season while John Hayden’s The Bean Sidhe was successful in 1985 before taking the North Ridge Farms 1000 Guineas Trial at the Phoenix Park six months later. The 1994 winner was Wild Bluebell, subsequent winner of the Concorde Stakes at Tipperary as a three year old while Marionnaud managed to win the same two races in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Indeed, both Wild Bluebell and Marionnaud’s trainer, Jim Bolger, has a fine recent record winning the race six times since Bertinelli gave him a first success in 1990. One of Aidan O’Brien’s first notable victories as a flat trainer came in the 1995 renewal with Kingsandvagabonds and he has added to that success in the intervening period with the likes of Flame Violet (1997), Colossus (2003) and Dark Cheetah (2004).
The first of eight races at Naas is due off at 2.05 pm on what is always a fiercely competitive card. The first two events are for two year old maiden races and in 2004 subsequent English 2000 Guineas winner, Footstepsinthesand, made a winning debut in the colts and geldings maiden for trainer Aidan O’Brien.
Must be SPIRIT OF VALOR's chance to follow in his footsteps tomorrow. © CM
When I saw Spirit of Valour last week I thought definite lay next time.Everyone saw what he did and for me it depends how you interpret -I saw a horse who was slowly away,vigorously ridden and never got competetive.Like the Wild Man I don't like War Front and I will be happy to oppose him at anything under 1.66.
It's quarter past one and he's still on here 
now more lies from Needie that he'll probably play golf, he'll probably claim his course has lights or something now
Fgs man you have not got a pot stop pretending you do Neddie.
now more lies from Needie that he'll probably play golf, he'll probably claim his course has lights or something now Fgs man you have not got a pot stop pretending you do Neddie.
What time are the races i'm interested in run at Rags ?.Plenty of time for me to step into the car and be in Naas in a few mins . You should go see a Doc mate obsessed with others ,a very bad sign mate .
Did it well in the end despite the ground and a fairly sharp crack of the whip.Could improve any amount with better ground and an extra furlong or two.Will be interesting to see what route they go with him.
PA, stay off dem f@gs.....YOUR ON A ROLL YOUNG MAN...be jaysus it can be done !
...'easy Lapsy, don't gimme babies' (in Ljubljana)
...'easy Lapsy, don't gimme babies' (in Ljubljana)
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