S R B Crawford

Leopardstown Mon, 2nd Mar, 2026  O'Toole We’ve thought the world of this horse from the day he won the bumper in Fairyhouse, he was second in the Grade 1 at Punchestown,. He’s had a few wee problems and it’s kept him off the track for a long time. When we started this season he had only run eight times. He had a great run back, at Cork, at Christmas when Sam (Ewing) rode him. It was a really good run for such a long lay-off. We went to Haydock, picked out a nice race, and we fancied him that day to go well. For whatever reason it didn’t happen and we gave him a good break and had this race in mind. Thankfully it’s worked out. In Haydock he was jumping left and was never happy. Yet he was in great form going there and we were really confident. Haydock can be a funny track, it dries out quick and it can ride sharp enough. I wonder whether he just found it sharp. He never got off on the right footing in the race whereas today JJ had him in a lovely position and he jumped well. The further he went the better he was jumping and he stayed really well.