Majestic Concorde

Under a supremely confident ride by Robbie McNamara, Majestic Concorde ran out an impressive winner of the two-mile beginners’ chase at Leopardstown on Sunday.

The mare Coscorrig ran freely in front, but it did appear as if she may have built up an unassailable lead by the time they reached the end of the back straight, in receipt of weight from all of her rivals. At that stage, Majestic Concorde had just emerged from the pack as a clear second, when he got the second last a little bit wrong, and surrendered second spot momentarily to Jigalo, but he quickly regained that position and set about reeling in the leader.

McNamara never panicked, he was stood tall in his irons around the home turn with fully eight lengths to make up. Even when they got to the last fence, however, he still had two and a half lengths to find, and for a few strides it looked as if he wasn’t going to find them. As soon as the rider got low in the saddle on landing over the last, however, it was apparent that he would, and he almost sprinted away up the run-in to win going away.

The form of the race is solid. Coscorrig is a decent performer, even if she is a little bit of a tearaway, she was clear of the third-placed horse, the useful Jaamid, and the time was good, 0.08secs/furlong faster than Racing Post par. Trainer Dermot Weld reported that Majestic Concorde had schooled well beforehand, and confirmed that he needs good ground to be at his best. He is a pacey individual – he is a dual winner over a mile and a half on the flat – who was rated 138 over hurdles, he jumps fences well, and he could be a really useful recruit to fences. He is not entered in the Arkle Challenge Trophy, back over Sunday’s course and distance on January 25th, which may have come too soon anyway, but it would not be beyond the bounds of possibility that he would make up into an Arkle horse at Cheltenham this year. He should be worth following wherever he goes next.

© The Irish Field, 17^th January, 2009