Apple set for hurdling campaign The Big Apple will pursue a career over hurdles in the coming weeks following his runaway bumper success at Naas on Saturday. The four-year-old made his racecourse debut in a Listed hurdle at the County Kildare circuit in the spring and was well fancied on his return to action. The JP McManus-owned gelding oozed class as he pulled 12 lengths clear of his nearest pursuer, and trainer Christy Roche is looking forward to getting him back over obstacles sooner rather than later. Roche said: "I've trained two of the family before and this fellow is a lovely horse - a nice staying horse for the future. "He ran in a good hurdle race at Naas earlier in the year and he was big and weak at the time. He's had a good summer to strength up since then. "He'll go back over hurdles now. He's a real jumping horse. "We'll give him a little break now and see where we go."
