Murcia

Murcia

3rd-Apr-2025

This is an unusual renewal of the Anniversary Hurdle, in that the Triumph Hurdle is not well represented.  None of the first 10 home in the Triumph are here.

As such, you can see why the Fred Winter Hurdle winner Puturhandstogether is favourite, he was very good in winning at Cheltenham and he is progressive.  But he is short, and Murcia might get closer to him today than she did that day.

Murcia was conceding 6lb to Puturhandstogether at Cheltenham, in a handicap, but this is a Grade 1 race and she gets the fillies’ allowance, so she is 13lb better off with him.

As well as that, I’m not sure that she ran her race at Cheltenham.  She travelled really well down the hill for Rachael Blackmore, but she struggled to get back up it.  Maybe the weight was a factor, she had top weight and she is not a robust filly.

Her previous run was good at Naas, in a race that is usually a strong pointer to the Fred Winter Hurdle.  She didn’t have a great run through the race, yet she stayed on strongly to get to within a neck of Bacchanalian, the pair of them clear.  That is solid form, Bacchanalian came out and won a Grade 3 contest next time, impressively, and the third horse, Ephesus, an ex-Aidan O’Brien horse who is rated 83 on the flat, who was eight lengths back in third, was impressive in winning his maiden hurdle at Limerick on Tuesday.

It is significant that Willie Mullins is happy to have another go at Puturhandstogether, it may be that the trainer feels too that they can get closer to him than they did at Cheltenham, on 13lb better terms.

MURCIA WON (ADV 5/1, SP 11/4)