Disko

Disko put up a really likeable performance to win the two-and-a-half-mile chase at Punchestown last Saturday on his chasing bow. The Noel Meade-trained horse did make a fairly bad mistake at the fence going away from the stands, he actually did well to stand up and rider Sean Flanagan did equally well to keep the partnership intact, but he was very good after that. It may have been that he got a bit of a scare at that fence, and that he decided to concentrate afterwards. He was fluent and measured at his fences, he moved to the front on the run to the fifth last fence, and he came away easily to win by eight lengths – which could have been much more – from Last Goodbye, a 136-rated hurdler.

This is a race that has been won in the past by horses who have gone on to be high-class, like No More Heroes, Shanahan’s Turn, Morning Assembly and Pandorama, and Disko has always been highly-regarded by his connections. Winner of his bumper on his racecourse debut at Punchestown in February 2015, the Gigginstown House horse stepped up on that to finish second to Bellshill in the Grade 1 Champion Bumper back at Punchestown the following April on just his second run, when he had Modus and Charbel and Altior behind him. Beaten on his debut over hurdles early last season on goodish ground, he was very good in winning his maiden at Naas last November, back on soft ground and racing in a hood for the first time. He missed almost all of the rest of last season, he didn’t return until April, when he ran down the field behind Jer’s Girl in the Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown. He had obviously had a fairly smooth run through the summer, and this was an ideal start over fences. His trainer said afterwards that he will probably go straight to the Drinmore Chase now, and that makes sense. He is a staying chaser in the making, and he could make up into a high-class staying novice this season. He is probably at his best on soft ground, but the ground was good to yielding when he finished second in the Champion Bumper at Punchestown, so he could be okay as well on better ground.

22^nd October 2016