I’d Love To Ride Agusta Gold In BoyleSports Irish Grand National

It was a good performance from Pencilfulloflead in the Leinster Leader maiden Hurdle at Punchestown on Tuesday.

Punchestown Winners
I was very happy with him and there’s definitely a big engine there. It was nice to get a win under his belt. He has plenty of improvement to come and he’ll improve for a better race as well. He’s a nice horse and has plenty of options going forward.

It was a also a very good performance by Jessica Harrington’s Neverrushacon. It was his first win over banks and, surprisingly, Jessie’s first winner over the banks course. He’ll head off to Cheltenham for the Cross Country Chase. He really enjoys jumping banks.

He’s an admirable horse – he’s won on the flat, he’s won over hurdles, he’s won over fences and now he’s won over banks.

He’s been a fantastic servant for his owners and he’ll definitely go to Cheltenham with an each-way chance.

BoyleSports Grand National Trial
General Principle ran a cracking race in the BoyleSports Grand National Trial. That’s the best race he’s run in a long time. He really appreciates soft ground.

The day he won the BoyleSports Irish Grand National was extremely heavy at Fairyhouse.

If it turned up again like that then General Principle would have to have an each-way chance.

I thought the horse to take out of the race was probably Agusta Gold, who came second. She looked the winner everywhere, bar the last few yards. On her ratings, she is probably likely to sneak in at the bottom of the weights.

She looked a strong stayer today – she’s only a novice – so ticks a lot of the boxes for a race like the BoyleSports Irish Grand National.

If I could pick any horse out of the trial to ride in the BoyleSports Irish Grand National it would be Agusta Gold.

Albert Bartlett & Gold Cup
Run Wild Fred put in a good performance to win the Surehaul Mercedes-Benz Novice Hurdle after a heavy fall at Thurles on his last start. He went a good gallop all the way. I don’t know if we have seen a winner of the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle out of the race.

We also found out that Mark Walsh will ride Delta Work in the Gold Cup. It’s a great ride for Mark who has been one of the top jockeys in Ireland for many years now. Davy Russell has committed to riding Presenting Percy in the race. Mark is a lucky man to fall in for the ride!