Follow The Plan

Follow The Plan was another horse to take out of the Punchestown Gold Cup for me. Oliver McKiernan’s gelding travelled really well through the race, he tracked the leader, going as well as any of his rivals, at the fourth last, joined him on the inside over the third last, was bang there going to the second last, but just ran out of petrol from there, getting the last fence all wrong.

This was the Accordion gelding’s first run in over a year, so it was reasonable to expect that lack of match practice would tell in the end, but it was still a huge performance. Remember that he won the Grade 1 Durkan New Homes Chase as a novice chaser last season. He didn’t quite go on from there, he was well behind Golden Silver and Forpadydeplasterer in the Irish Arkle and he was well beaten in the Arkle at Cheltenham, but he is still a hugely talented individual on this run. He is only seven, he has run just eight times over fences, and there should be plenty more to come now as long as he remains sound. Although the ground was soft when he won that Grade 1 contest, he is probably at his best on good ground. His dam won over two miles and six furlongs, and he is well worth another try at three miles.

21st April 2010

© The Irish Field, 24th April 2010

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