Clever And Cool

Clever And Cool can be marked up at least a little on the bare form of the performance that she put up in finishing fourth in the Group 3 Weld Park Stakes at The Curragh last Sunday. Slowly away and settled at the rear of the field early on by Kevin Manning, she was still last of the 10 runners as they passed the three-furlong marker. Racing on the outside of the field, she picked up well when her rider asked her for her effort. She moved forward on the outside of runners and probably moved into second place behind Basil Martini. She couldn’t sustain her challenge, her run flattened out through the final 150 yards as her exertions took their toll. She was run out of the places in the end, but she was only beaten a neck and the same for second.

This was a race in which the early pace held up, the winner made all and the second and third both raced prominently, so it was a fine effort by Jim Bolger’s filly to get as close as she did after she missed the break. She only made her racecourse debut in early September, when she was impressive in winning her maiden at Cork over five furlongs, and she shaped well next time in finishing fourth behind Zarinsk in the Listed Ingabelle Stakes at Leopardstown on Irish Champions’ Weekend. She showed lots of pace here, as she did when she won over the minimum trip at Cork on her debut, so a drop back down to six furlongs might suit her. She is by Vocalised out of a Whipper mare, so it may be that soft ground is important to her. The form of the Weld Park Stakes got a nice boost on Sunday when Gan Teorainn, Clever And Cool’s lesser-fancied stable companion, ran a massive race to finish second in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp, and Clever And Cool will be of interest if she races again now before the end of the season.
The Curragh, 25^th September 2022