Coeur Sublime

Coeur Sublime won his maiden hurdle nicely. Never far off the pace, his jumping was not bad for a debutant, he got better as the race developed. The Gordon Elliott-trained gelding landed a little flat-footed over the last after coming through to hit the front, but he picked up again well for Bryan Cooper on the run-in, showing a nice willing attitude to come away again.

This was his hurdling debut and it was just his second race ever. He has buckets of scope for progression over hurdles. He beat Southern France in a 10f maiden at Naas last April when he was with Peter Fahey, the pair of them nicely clear, and that form obviously looks very good now, with Southern France finishing second in the Queen's Vase and third in the St Leger.

The Elusive Pimpernel gelding could be a very interesting hurdling recruit now for Elliott and owner Chris Jones. Trainer and owner teamed up to win this race with Mega Fortune in 2016, and Guitar Pete won it in 2013, and those two horses both won the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown the following February and finished placed in the Triumph Hurdle the following March. Coeur Sublime could take a high rank among the juvenile hurdlers this season.

Down Royal, 3rd November 2018

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