Royal Reveille

Royal Reveille was really impressive once again in running out a wide-margin winner of the Grade 3 Greenmount Park Novice Hurdle over two miles and five furlongs at Limerick on Sunday. He was taken straight to the front by Ruby Walsh, he hurdled fluently, measuring up his hurdles well, and he was clever when he got in close to the flight in front of the stands first time round. Walsh turned the screw at the end of the back straight and he immediately had all of those in behind in trouble. He skipped over the last two hurdles and he didn’t have to come off the bridle to win easily.

Ted Walsh’s gelding had finished second in his first two point-to-points before winning the third of them in 2009. He had one run in a bumper in February 2010 before going novice hurdling at the start of last season. He showed definite promise in his first two maiden hurdles before disappointing in the third of them, which meant that he was awarded a handicap mark of 107. He was then beaten three times in handicaps off marks in the low 100s before finally winning a maiden hurdle at Roscommon in July with a tongue-tie applied for the first time. As that win came after the end of last season, he is still a novice for this season. He has really gone on since that win having learned to settle. He followed up at the Galway Festival off a mark of 109 and, despite being beaten five days later at odds-on in a conditions hurdle at Naas, when he never really looked happy, something must have been amiss, he resumed the winning thread after a short break at Navan at the end of September on his last run before Sunday.

This was the son of Old Vic’s 12th start over hurdles and that experience should stand to him in novice company through the season. He has the pace for two and a half miles but, being out of a dam who won a point-to-point and a two-and-a-half-mile chase herself, from the family of Dawn Run, he should get three miles, his previous win had come over two and three quarter miles at Navan.

It is unlikely that he has stopped progressing, he could be more than just a summer jumper, he handled the softer conditions here no problem, and he looks a contender for some of the graded staying novice hurdles later in the season.

9th October 2011

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