Darasso

Darasso did well to get as close as he did in the Galway Plate, given that he missed the break, and that he was playing catch-up from early.
Squeezed out of it a little when the tapes went up, he only had four horses behind him as they crossed the winning line with two circuits to go, and he didn’t have a trouble-free passage after that either. He was tight for room at the first fence, and he was ridden along by Luke Dempsey among traffic at various junctures through the race. He did make progress through the field though into mid-division as they raced down the back straight final time, and into seventh or eighth as they raced down the hill into the dip to the last two fences. Still only eighth as they rounded the home turn, he stayed on gamely up the hill to take fifth place, just five lengths behind the winner Royal Rendezvous, nearest at the finish.

It was a big run by Joseph O’Brien’s horse, coming from the rear in a race in which the pace held up well. The winner made just about all the running, and Darasso was one of just two horses who came from mid-division or worse to get into the top seven. JP McManus’ horse is a classy horse, he won a Grade 3 hurdle and a Grade 2 chase in the spring of 2019, and he had been in good form this season, he was impressive in winning over hurdles at Killarney in May and again when winning over fences at Listowel in June. He kept on well too to finish second to Sole Pretender in the Grade 3 Grimes Hurdle at Tipperary in early July, when he had Plate third Modus well behind him in third, and his Plate run was a nice step forward from that. He has won four of his seven chases, he is already rated higher over fences than over hurdles, and there could be more to come from him now as a chaser.
Galway, 28^th July 2021