Dalton Highway
Dalton Highway put up a game performance to win the two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle. Held up early on in what was an incident-packed race, he made nice progress as they raced towards the end of the back straight. Just behind the leaders jumping the second last, he travelled well around the home turn for Jack Kennedy and, switched to the outside on the run to the last, he stayed on strongly up the run-in to win going away.
Dermot Weld's horse was a progressive handicapper on the flat last summer, he finished second in the big amateur riders' handicap at Galway and he finished placed in valuable staying handicaps at Killarney and The Curragh (the Irish Cesarewitch) and Naas (the November Handicap). This was his first run over hurdles since he finished fifth in a handicap hurdle at Galway, six days after he was second in the Connacht Hotel race, but he jumped well and he stayed on well.
His trainer said afterwards that he would go back on the flat during the summer, he could be a Chester Cup horse, but he will also be of interest if he goes back over hurdles. The handicapper raised him by 9lb for this win, but he appeared to win with plenty in hand, he has raced just five times over hurdles, and his new mark of 120 is probably still a mark that he can surpass.
Leopardstown, 28th December 2019
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