Osirixamix

It was a shame that Osirixamix came down at the final fence in the Grade 2 Hilly Way Chase at Cork on Sunday as he had done everything right up to then. He travelled well out in front, he jumped really well, and he had Golden Silver in trouble all the way up the home straight and in big trouble coming to the last, with the pair of them clear. He traded at 1.2 in-running before he fell, and it was surprising that he didn’t trade at a shorter price actually, as he looked to have the race in the bag had he jumped the last.

Tony Martin’s gelding hasn’t always made the running, but he seemed to be suited to doing so here, he went enthusiastically from the front, measuring his fences well. His two wins last season, a handicap hurdle and a beginners’ chase, were both gained from the front. Golden Silver hadn’t jumped with his usual fluency under Emmet Mullins, and a slow jump at the fourth last, the last before the home straight, just when Osirixamix was increasing the pace and flew it himself, left the favourite with several lengths to find. Two accurate jumps from Osirixamix at the first two in the home straight meant he was still three lengths up on Golden Silver on the run down to the final fence with Robbie Moran yet to go for him. Moran then, having sat still on the horse all the way to that point, asked him for a big jump at the last but the horse just didn’t come up for him, got the fence all wrong and came down.

Osirixamix is a talented performer and he may not get the credit he deserves for this. This was just his seventh chase, and he can go on from this now. He took to chasing really well last season, he beat a useful field on his debut over fences when his jumping was good, and he looks capable of fulfilling his potential now having found things tough since that win. He has been thrown into some very tough assignments though, and this run proves that there is every chance that he is up to this sort of level. He goes well on soft and heavy ground, and he may well be under-estimated in a similar contest now next time. The handicapper has raised him 12lb for this, but a mark of 143 should not over-estimate him if Tony Martin chooses to send him down the handicap route.

11th December 2011