Three horses to follow from the Listowel Harvest Festival Listowel’s seven-day Harvest Festival, which consists of five days of jumping and two on the Flat, is one of the most established fixtures of its type in Ireland and always brings big crowds and plenty of runners. This year’s event was no exception and we run the rule over the action, highlighting three horses who caught the eye and should be added to your trackers. Strong Link Ross O’Sullivan’s Strong Link tasted defeat over hurdles for the first time in the Allman Contracts Novice Hurdle over 2m4f on Saturday, but it was still an excellent effort from the five-year-old, who stuck gamely to his task and looks likely to improve again when tackling closer to 3m. The son of Diamond Bay had shaped nicely in bumpers at around 2m last season, but he’s taken his form to his whole new level since being stepped up to 2m4f this term, rattling off a hat-trick of wins, firstly in a National Hunt Flat Race on his reappearance at Wexford in May, before a pair of hurdle victories at Tipperary and Galway in July. Officially rated 131, he came under pressure earlier than most at the weekend, but kept finding for Keith Donoghue and only went down by a half-length to Gordon Elliott’s Kainsbourg - who, despite being the second longest price in the field at 12/1 - had arguably the best form in the race and was in receipt of 5lb from Strong Link. Doubly penalised, he beat Willie Mullins’ Cameletta Vega by a greater margin than at Galway and remains a young horse, very much on the upgrade. Arch Empire The Willie Mullins-trained Davy Crockett maintained his unbeaten record with decisive victory in the Seamus Mulvaney Bookmaker Novice Hurdle over 2m on Wednesday, making it three odds-on victories in the bounce. However, Elliott had won three of the last four runnings of this race and the eye was very much drawn to his Arch Empire, who rallied strongly for second, having stumbled and lost valuable momentum on landing over the second-last. Reported to be clinically abnormal when disappointing at Downpatrick last month, this was a big step back in the right direction for the five-year-old, who surely has the potential to make his mark in handicap company off his current mark of 124. Apache Tribe There were a couple of impressive bumper winners over the week, none more so than Noel Kelly’s Apache Tribe, who justified favouritism with the minimum of fuss. The five-year-old, who’d won a point at Oldtown in February and had shown promise on his rules/bumper debut when fifth of 16 over 2m2f at Galway in July, was always going to be suited by this longer trip of 2m4f. Those who took relatively short prices about the son of Jukebox Jury endured very few anxious moments, the gelding making his challenge on the bridle 3f out and settling matters within a few strides turning in. Closely related to French 2m2f hurdle winner Sacree Fame and a half-brother to three French winners, including the top-class On The Go (1m7f-3m6f), he looks to have a bright future ahead of him.
