Ronald Pump© Photo Healy Racing
Ronald Pump is currently on a break following a disappointing run at the Leopardstown Christmas meeting and is set to reappear in the Boyne Hurdle at Navan next month.
The Matt Smith-trained gelding was second to Lisnagar Oscar in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2020 but missed the race in a curtailed campaign last term and has not been entered for the three-mile Grade 1 in March.
The nine-year-old got this season off to a promising start when filling the runner-up spot behind Honeysuckle for the second successive year in the BARONERACING.COM Hatton‘s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse but failed to build on that performance against Champ in the Howden Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot before trailing home behind Klassical Dream in the Dornan Engineering Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown.
Smith said, “We gave him a break and we’ll head for the Boyne Hurdle in Navan (on February20). He never got into the race at Leopardstown and I suppose it came quick enough after Ascot.
“We didn't put him in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham but if things went well at Navan we might look at Aintree.”
The Kilmessan trainer added, “He’s had a couple of quiet weeks and we’ve freshened him up a bit. It would be nice if we could get a win back into him somewhere.
“His run behind Honeysuckle at Fairyhouse was good and he was just too keen at Ascot. It was a funny race at Leopardstown and he just never got into it.
“We were a bit deflated after that so we said we’d skip Cheltenham and go to Navan.”
