Storm Heart
Storm Heart battled on gamely to get up and win the Red Mills Trial Hurdle at Gowran Park on Saturday. He was never too far off the pace that Workahead set, up on the outside, and he moved up on the outside on the run around the home turn. Workahead went on again over the second last as Storm Heart came under a ride, but he responded well to Paul Townend's urgings, he got to the front 100 yards out and he powered on to win by just over a length in the end.
It was a game performance by Willie Mullins' horse. He was dropping down in trip here to two miles, having won over two and a half miles at Limerick over Christmas, and he did well to beat a good horse over a trip that is surely short of his best. Workahead, who remains lightly raced and who had the run of the race from the front here, Darragh O'Keeffe was able to set his own sedate fractions, still holds an entry in the Champion Hurdle. Storm Heart split Kargese and Majborough in the Spring Hurdle as a juvenile, and he was sent off as favourite for the Triumph Hurdle that year. He raced just once last season, he finished a gallant runner-up in the big two-mile handicap hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival last year. This was just his second run since, so he should be able to continue his progression towards the realisation of his full potential. He should be seen to better effect too stepped up to two and a half miles. He holds entries in the County Hurdle and in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham, and he will be of interest in either, but he would be of greater interest in the latter, over the longer trip, off something close to his Irish handicap rating of 147.
Gowran Park, 14th February 2026
Back