Hebridean

Hebridean looked very good in getting the better of Saticon and Helium in the Adonis Hurdle at Kempton on Saturday. A little free through the early stages, he settled into a nice rhythm then under Ruby Walsh, travelled best of all around the home turn, cruised up to take it up from Saticon between the last two flights, and quickened away impressively on the run-in.

It was interesting to listen to Walsh afterwards. His immediate reaction was that the horse wouldn’t be suited by the hill at Cheltenham, that he would be best suited to a flat track, and it appears that the intention now is to skip Cheltenham with him and go to Aintree. Remember that Hebridean beat Ebidiyan and Starluck in the Classic Trial at Gowran Park over a mile and a half last May when he was with Aidan O’Brien. He also won the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes at The Curragh the same month. There is no doubting his class, and he is one for the four-year-old hurdle at Aintree, lying in wait, as he will be, for his potentially over-bet rivals who will have had a hard race in the Triumph Hurdle or the Fred Winter.

21^st February, 2009