Magic Daze

Noted when she was beaten in a beginners’ chase at Galway in October, Magic Daze is worthy of note again now, after she won the mares’ beginners’ chase at Cork on Sunday. Henry de Bromhead’s mare could hardly have been any more impressive than she was in winning on Sunday. Sent to the front from flagfall by Darragh O’Keeffe, her jumping was superb. She had all her rivals in trouble before they turned for home, and she stayed on well over the last three fences to win by 25 lengths in a good time. She was almost 11 seconds faster than her stable companion, the 140-rated Epson Du Houx, was in winning the handicap chase 35 minutes later, and she is a novice, a mare, who was carrying 4lb more than he was.

She appeared to appreciate the drop back down to two miles, and being allowed roll along in front, and she was very good. She was a progressive and free-going novice hurdler last season, she won her maiden at Clonmel in January, and she did remarkably well to finish second behind her stable companion Telmesomethinggirl in the mares’ novices’ hurdle at Cheltenham in March, when she raced keenly in front for much of the race, but still kept on well enough after she had been passed by the winner to retain the runner-up spot. The fact that she ran so well at Cheltenham last March augurs well for her, if and when she goes back to Cheltenham. If she continues to progress, she could emerge as a real candidate for the Arkle, in which she would be in receipt of 7lb from the geldings. Her forward-going style of racing, and her fluent and aggressive jumping, as well as the fact that she ran so well over hurdles at Cheltenham in March on her only run there, would all be positives in the context of the Arkle, as is the fact that she is trained by Henry de Bromhead, who trained another mare, Put The Kettle On, to win the Arkle in 2020.
Cork, 14^th November 2021