O'Dwyer eyes Navan prize with Battle Conor O'Dwyer is eyeing the final of the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Novice Handicap Chase series at Navan next Saturday for Battle It Out. The Flemensfirth gelding was an impressive winner of a novice handicap at Naas last time, under his son Charlie, and O'Dwyer feels there is more to come from the six-year-old. Navan is the preferred option now for Battle It Out with Punchestown also a possibility. "I think Battle It Out is a horse with a future if he keeps progressing and doing things the way he has been doing things,” said O'Dwyer. "He's still a little bit weak behind but, what he did in Naas last month, I didn't expect to see. “I expected a big run, I fancied him, but I didn't expect to see that sort of performance. It was a 45 grand race and the way he jumped throughout the race was fantastic. "A small yard needs that sort of horse to put them in lights a little bit. "In Navan there is the final of the EBF novice series. It is a Listed novice handicap over 2m7f and I'd like to go there. We'll see then - if Punchestown was soft, maybe. "If he did well in Navan, though, I wouldn't be sorry to see him go back to Martinstown for a few months. He has learned so much this year. “I think you can often do too much with those novices at times and, obviously, the man who owns him (JP McManus) is the most patient man in the world. It is great that we have him." (Michael Graham)
