Grange Walk

Grange Walk put up a good performance to finish second behind Poseidon in the two-mile-one-and-a-half-furlong handicap chase at Cork on Sunday. Settled towards the rear of the field early on by Danny Mullins, a mistake at the second fence down the back straight saw him drop back to last of the 10 runners, and he wasn’t great at the next fence either. But he travelled well out of the back straight, he jumped the fourth last fence well, and he made good ground along the inside on the run into the home straight. He jumped the third last fence in the front rank, but a mistake at the second last fence handed the initiative to Poseidon. He battled back well though, he jumped the last well and, while he couldn’t get to Poseidon, he kept on well to finish a clear second, four and a half lengths on front of The West’s Awake.

John Ryan’s horse continues in really good form. He was travelling well in a good handicap chase at the Galway Festival when he came down at the third last fence, and he did well to win a decent handicap chase at Sligo last month, when he had to go wider than ideal but still ran out a good winner, for all that his task was rendered easier than it might have been had Benefit Run not come down at the final fence. He was disappointing at Listowel next time, when he reportedly lost his action, but this was a nice bounce back to form. Unusually for a John Ryan-trained horse, it appears that he enjoys being held up and coming through horses. Winner of his maiden hurdle at Tramore in September last year, he is already a better chaser than hurdler and, still only six and with just six chases on his CV, he has the potential to be better still. A new handicap rating of 127, 3lb higher than the mark off which he raced on Sunday, is fair, and he is still a novice this season. He could do even better dropped back down to two miles, a fast-run two miles is probably ideal for him, but he probably wouldn’t want the ground to be too soft.
Cork, 17^th October 2021