Lalor Deserves Arkle Price After Impressive Win

I had a good day at Exeter last week, riding three winners for Colin Tizzard.

The Russian Doyen
The Russian Doyen was probably the pick of them in the Beginner’s Chase.

The race cut up a little bit with the ground but he still beat a horse that was rated higher than him over hurdles so it was a really good performance and a solid start to his chasing career.

Got Trumped
It was nice to get a win onboard Get Trumped at Punchestown on Saturday for Jessica Harrington. Lever Du Soleil fell at the second last which is still nearly half a mile from home, that’s a lot of ground to cover.

Maybe he fell because he was running out of petrol but he certainly wouldn’t have been easy to reel in.

We expected Got Trumped to improve on his run from Fairyhouse and he definitely did that. He’ll improve even more when he gets a bit of softer ground.

Lalor
Just like everyone else, I was very taken with Lalor at Cheltenham on Sunday.

He is entitled to be as short as he is for the Arkle on the back of that performance.

It was a strong race with Defi Du Seuil and Pingshou who I thought ran a good race on his return but Lalor jumped so well. As Novice Chasers go, he was definitely the standout of this weekend.

Morgiana Hurdle
It was disappointing that we didn’t get to run Supasundae in Sunday’s Morgiana Hurdle on Sunday.

We had intended on running him the same way Gordon had intended on running Samcro. The ground is just still that bit quick which is unbelievable for this time of year.

Hopefully Supasundae will move on to the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle in a fortnight’s time if we get enough rain.

It was a very good performance from Sharjah to win the race. The time was very quick which would suggest good to firm ground. He won a Galway Hurdle off top weight so very impressive all-round.

Malone Road
This looks like a hell of a good horse. He looked good when he won at Down Royal so it was no surprise to see him follow it up in the Bumper at Punchestown on Sunday.

I would assume the plan is not to put him away and give him a run just before the Champion Bumper.