Edeymi

Edeymi put up a nice performance to finish fourth in the Pertemps Qualifier at Musselburgh on Sunday. Held up at the back of the field by Donagh Meyler through the early stages of the race, Tony Martin’s horse travelled well into the home straight, but he was further back than ideal in a race in which the front-runners didn’t come back. It was a race in which it was an advantage to race handily. The winner Dawalan raced just behind the leaders from early, while the runner-up Kruzhlinin led from the start to the run-in. Even so, Edeymi made good progress up the home straight among horses, and he stayed on well all the way to the line to take fourth place, doing best of the horses who were held up.

This was just Edeymi’s second run back after a break of 17 months. He finished well down the field on his return in the Leopardstown Pertemps Qualifier at the Christmas Festival, but this was much more encouraging. This performance, allied to the fact that Gigginstown House have held onto him, suggests that he retains a lot of his old ability.

And he is a horse of ability. He was a progressive handicap hurdler during the 2012/13 season, it escaped many people’s notice that he was travelling really well in rear in a fast-run Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at the 2013 Cheltenham Festival when he was brought down at the third last. It was a long way out and he was a long way back, but they had gone so hard from early in that race, he could easily have been involved in the finish without that mis-hap. Later than year he won the big qualified riders’ handicap on the flat at the Galway Festival, beating Domination by a head, and he rounded off 2013 by finishing second to the same Domination – winner of the Ascot Stakes at Royal Ascot last year – in a three-mile hurdle at Cork.

Rated 127 in Ireland before Sunday’s run and raised to a mark of 130 now, he was racing off a British mark of 135 on Sunday, and that type of mark could be enough to see him sneak into the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham at the bottom of the weights. He is still only seven and, given that he ran in the Martin Pipe race two years ago off a mark of 139, that is a mark that should be well within his range. He seems to stay three miles okay, and he will be of interest wherever he runs next.

1st February 2015