Castlegrace Paddy

Castlegrace Paddy put up a seriously impressive performance to win the Hilly Way Chase. His task was rendered a fair bit easier than it might have been when Great Field fell at the second fence, but, given the manner in which Pat Fahy’s horse coasted to victory under Paul Townend, it is probable that the odds-on favourite would have had to put up a big performance to beat him.

He did everything easily, he travelled easily, he jumped easily, he coasted up on the inside of leader Special Tiara on the run to the home turn, and he eased his way to victory. He is a seriously exciting prospect. He looked exciting in winning his first two chases last season and, while he was a little disappointing behind Footpad in the Grade 1 Ryanair Novices’ Chase at the Punchestown Festival – he was also disappointing at the Punchestown Festival as a novice hurdler – this was much more like it. He is only seven and this was just his fourth chase, so there is no telling how high he could go. His trainer said that Leopardstown at Christmas is the plan now, and he will be exciting now back up at Grade 1 level. He will probably meet Min at Leopardstown, all going well, and that could be very interesting. His four runs over fences have been at right-handed tracks, but he can tend to go a little to his left, so he could be even better going left-handed.

Cork, 9^th December 2018