Let Yourself Go

Let Yourself Go put up an exhibition round of jumping to make all in the Cashel Chase, the two-and-a-quarter-mile chase at Thurles on Friday. Weak in the market early on but backed in to 3/1 just before the off, Shane Hassett unsurprisingly sent the Adrian Maguire-trained gelding into the lead from flagfall, he flew the first fence and hardly made a mistake thereafter. Afforded an easy lead, he was able to measure up his fences from the front, and it was apparent going down the back straight final time that he was going to take a lot of catching. Dooneys Gate was closing a little when he fell at the fourth last, but it is probably more likely that he wouldn't have caught the leader than that he would have, given how strongly Let Yourself Go finished. Conna Castle closed up fairly threateningly at the top of the home straight, but the winner had Jimmy Mangan's horse's measure long before he fell at the last.

The son of Zaffaran remains hugely exciting. He has now won four of his six chases, suffering defeat on his chasing bow on fast ground at Tipperary last June, and again at Galway last October, when he could only finish fourth behind Foster's Cross, a ran that probably wasn't a true reflection of his ability, given that he has been off the track since. This was much more like it. The race fell apart a little behind him, but he beat his remaining rivals pointless in a good time, bang on Racing Post par, and he attacked his fences with the enthusiasm that he had shown when he beat Top Of The Rock and Schlem at Limerick in October on his penultimate run before his break. The handicapper has raised him 9lb to a mark of 143 for this, but he is probably better suited to graded races anyway where the fields are smaller and he has a better chance of having it all to himself up front. The Grade 3 An Uaimh Chase at Navan at the end of this month is an obvious next step. It is a little bit of a worry that he has never won left-handed, but he has only run left-handed four times in his career and just once over fences, and he did finish second to Give It Time in a maiden hurdle at Navan back in 2008. Also, he has never won over two and a half miles, but he stayed the two-and-a-quarter-mile trip well last Friday, he won his only point-to-point, he won his maiden hurdle over two miles and three furlongs on heavy ground, and there is plenty of stamina in his pedigree (he is out of a half-sister to multiple three-mile chase winner Sheer Ability), so he has every chance of getting the trip over fences. The balance of probability suggests that he may even improve for a step up in trip now, and he would be really exciting if he did.

26th February 2010

© The Irish Field, 6th March 2010

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