Will Be Done

Will Be Done disputed the lead on the outside of Wind Instrument for most of the way in the two-and-a-half-mile novices’ chase at Haydock on Saturday. He jumped well throughout, and eased to the front around the home turn, but his chance looked to have gone when he clouted the last ditch three from home and surrendered the lead to Tartak and Naiad Du Misselot. He was soon back on the bridle, however, and back on level terms, but he got in too close to the second last and landed flat-footed, giving Tartak another chance. But he stayed on best of all to win going away, and probably had a lot more in hand than the four lengths by which he won.

This race took less winning than it might have done, with Massini’s Maguire coming out just before the race, but Will Be Done’s performance belied his weakness in the ring beforehand. Donald McCain’s gelding, who was recording his fourth win on the bounce, is a really progressive individual. He has numbered useful performers Pop, Nine De Sivola and now Tartak and Naiad Du Misselot among his victims, and he would have gone close to beating Kilcrea Castle at Gowran Park in November 2007 when he was with Dick Lalor had he not come down at the second last. As a second-season novice, he is more experienced than the majority of his freshman rivals, and his trainer thinks that he is an even better horse going right-handed than he is going left, a view that is supported by his tendency to go to his right on Saturday.

Interestingly, McCain says that he may by-pass Cheltenham and Aintree, and go for the Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse on Easter Sunday, April 12th, and that is really interesting, as two and a half miles at a right-handed track looks to be pretty much ideal. He will probably meet more fashionable horses who are coming back from Cheltenham there, and he could be allowed go off at a decent price. There is probably more improvement to come, and he should be worth following wherever he goes next.

17^th January, 2009