Helpmeout

Helpmeout ran well to finish third in the three-year-olds’ 10-furlong handicap at Navan last Tuesday. Held up early on by Billy Lee from her outside draw, nine of nine, she was still last of the nine runners as they straightened up for home. She travelled well early in the home straight, and she made her ground on the bridle to move in behind the leaders as they raced inside the two-furlong marker, still on the bridle. She picked up too when her rider asked her to, she moved into third place at the furlong marker and she looked a likely winner, but her run just flattened out up the hill and she couldn’t get any closer, finishing third in the end behind Supagirl and Haroya, with the first three nicely clear.

It was a good run by Willie McCreery’s filly on her seasonal debut, he first run since last October. She didn’t win as a juvenile, but this performance suggests that a mark in the mid-60s should be well within range, and a 2lb hike to a mark of 67 should be fine, it means that she can compete in this 47-70 grade again. She had never been beyond a mile before Tuesday, and it may be that this 10-furlong trip up the hill just stretched her stamina beyond its limit, or it may be that she just tired on her first run of the season. Either way, she will be of interest wherever she goes next, and it may be that a mile will prove to be her optimum trip, at least for now. Her dam won over seven furlongs, and she is a half-sister to Warsaw, a listed race winner over five furlongs. She is entered in a one-mile three-year-olds’ handicap at Gowran Park next Wednesday, and she will be of interest if she takes her chance in that.
Navan, 29^th March 2022