Icare Allen

Icare Allen put up a good performance to finish third in the Pertemps qualifier at Aintree on Saturday. Held up out the back early on, he travelled well through his race, and he travelled best of all into the home straight. The hurdles in the home straight were taken out because of the low-lying sun, and the front two got away from Icare Allen a little, but he kept on well enough to retain third place.

Fourth in the Galway Hurdle in August, when he might have got even closer to his stable companion Zarak The Brave had he had a little bit more room late on, Willie Mullins’ horse appeared to stay two miles and six and a half furlongs well enough when he finished third in a listed handicap hurdle at Galway two days later. He has raced 13 times now over hurdles, but he is still only five, and he remains unexposed at staying trips. There is plenty of stamina in his pedigree. Fourth behind Vauban in the 2022 Triumph Hurdle, he is qualified for the Pertemps Final back at Cheltenham in March, and that would be an interesting long range target for him now.

Aintree, 11^th November 2023