Red Moloney

Red Moloney ran a cracker to finish third behind Zaynar and Karabak in the Ascot Hurdle run over two miles and three furlongs on Saturday. Settled nicely out the back in the early stages, he travelled well and moved up nicely when they turned to race uphill up the side of the track. He jumped the fourth last fluently and moved noticeably well into fifth place just behind the leaders on the run up the hill. He got the third last a little wrong, but even at that Denis O’Regan had to take a slight tug on the approach to the home turn to stop him getting into a battle with Zaynar for the lead. He tracked Zaynar and Karabak around the home turn, widest of all, and looked to be travelling at least as well as Zaynar and better than Karabak on the run to the second last. That was as good as it got, however. He jumped the second last three lengths behind the leader, and his stamina just ebbed away. He simply couldn’t match Zaynar’s overdrive between the last two flights. Even so, although he finished well behind Zaynar and Karabak, he still kept on well enough to hold on to third place from Katchit.

Rated 109 on the flat when with Kevin Prendergast, the son of Sahm shaped with a degree of promise for Howard Johnson as a novice hurdler at the start of last season, winning his first three starts, all on good ground, all at Musselburgh, and running well enough in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham. He was disappointing on the face of it at Aintree next time, but something may have been amiss that day, he travelled really well into the home straight and then found very little, stopping as if shot. This was much more like it, but he should benefit now from dropping back to two miles. His rating of 142 is fair enough, and he is the type who could do well in the big two-mile handicap hurdles, when the fast pace will suit and enable him travel as well as he does without having to be restrained. He looks best on a flat track and on goodish ground, and he remains interesting.

21st November 2009