Glam Gerry

Glam Gerry really took the eye with his effort to finish third to Salut Flo in the Byrne Group Plate. Given a really patient ride by the 7lb claimer Brian Hayes, he was last of the main bunch of runners for the first half of the contest with only the slightly detached Life Of A Luso behind him. He started to make ground at the end of the back straight, aided by a flying leap at the sixth last fence. He was much closer as they jumped the fourth from home, but he got in tight to it and forfeited a couple of lengths. Held together down the hill by Hayes, he was still travelling nicely as they turned in to face the hill, and it wasn’t until after jumping the second last fence that he was asked to really pick up. He was too far behind by then, some 12 or so lengths off the leader, and, while he did make up a lot of ground to grab third from Divers right on the line, he couldn’t get close to the first two.

To be fair to his talented young rider, given how hard Salut Flo had gone from the front, pressing on for home from the top of the hill, you would have expected him to come back to the field at some point, it is probably a sign of how good the winner is that he didn’t, and it is hard to blame the jockey for holding onto Glam Gerry for so long, especially as it was the jockey’s first ride over fences at Cheltenham. He might have been able to press The Cockney Mackem for second had he got Glam Gerry going sooner, but it is unlikely he would have been beaten Salut Flo.

Colm Murphy’s gelding had shaped at Leopardstown over Christmas as though he would be suited to stepping up in trip beyond two miles and five furlongs, and that was the overwhelming impression again here. He is a novice over fences, this was only his sixth chase start, and he has lots of scope for progression on the back of this, especially when stepped up in trip. He is improving now as his jumping is improving, and he may well still be under-rated after this run (he was certainly under the radar coming into the race, as evidenced by an SP of 33/1). Effective on good ground, he will be interesting if he runs at Fairyhouse or Punchestown, especially if he is stepped up a little in trip.

15th March 2012