Hiddenvalley Lake

Hiddenvalley Lake stayed on strongly to win the Grade 3 three-mile novices’ hurdle at Cork on Sunday. Weak in the market beforehand, he settled nicely early on for Rachael Blackmore, fourth of the five runners. He travelled well into the home straight, but a mistake at the third last flight just as the pace was quickening allowed Monbeg Park and Cool Survivor get away from him a little. He came under a ride after that, but he picked up well on the far side, and he jumped to the front over the second last flight. After that, he cleared away from his rivals impressively, putting eight lengths between himself and his rivals by the time he reached the winning line.

There was an awful lot to like about this performance from Henry de Bromhead’s horse. It was a good race, as befits a Grade 3 contest, with Cool Survivor, Monbeg Park and Letsbeclearaboutit all bringing good form into the race. And the winning time was very good, just outside Racing Post par and faster per furlong than the other four hurdle races run on the day, and those four were all run over shorter distances.  He saw out the three-mile trip really well too, which makes the performance that he put up in winning over two miles and three furlongs at Naas last month on his hurdling debut all the more commendable. That race is working out well too, with the second, fifth and 12th all winning since.

The Robcour gelding is bred for stamina, he looks like an Albert Bartlett Hurdle horse and, in that context, it was interesting that his trainer mentioned the Surehaul Mercedes-Benz Hurdle at Clonmel in February as a next option. That is a race that Henry de Bromhead has won with Chris’s Dream and Albert Bartlett Hurdle runner-up Monalee in the past, and it is a race in which Albert Bartlett Hurdle winner (and obviously Gold Cup winner) Minella Indo finished second to Allaho.
Cork, 11^th December 2022