Maskada

Mentioned here before after she fell at the second last fence when travelling well in a mares’ handicap chase at Fairyhouse in November, Maskada is worth another mention now after she won the Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase at Limerick last Wednesday. She was keen enough early on, and there was always a fear that those exertions would take their toll on the heavy ground in the latter stages of the race, but that fear proved ultimately to be unfounded. She travelled well through her race for Sean O’Keeffe towards the inside and in mid-division. She moved up just behind the leaders on the run around the home turn, moved to the outside early in the home straight, and she stayed on strongly over the last two fences to get the better of Krabat, keeping on well enough to withstand the last challenge from the well-backed Rebel Gold on the far side. She was actually going away again at the line.

It was a really likeable performance by Henry de Bromhead’s mare. We obviously don’t know how she would have fared at Fairyhouse had she not come down, but she had to have gone close, and that race is working out well, with the winner Malina Girl finishing second – admittedly a fairly remote second – to Allegorie De Vassy next time, and the runner-up Operational Mix winning a handicap hurdle at Limerick on Tuesday. Winner of a listed mares’ chase last January for Stuart Edmonds, this was just Maskada’s third run for Henry de Bromhead, and it was just her second run of the season, her first completion. The handicapper raised her by 8lb to a mark of 140, but she has just turned seven and she has the potential to go beyond that mark now. She handles soft ground well. All her best runs have been at right-handed tracks, but that may be more down to happenstance than anything else, and the Leopardstown Chase at the Dublin Racing Festival looks like a good target for her now.
Limerick, 28^th December 2022