Weekend Review - Tingle Creek & John Durkan

The Weekend Review
By Red

Red looks back on the weekend action, a return to the winners enclosure for Sire De Grugy and Djakadam laying down a Gold Cup gauntlet.

Sire De Grugy claimed his second Tingle Creek with a controversial win over Special Tiara. Their last fence coming together is still subject of an appeal, but for what it's worth, I think Sire should keep the race. There was no deliberate attempt to jump out to the left nor was there much that Jamie Moore could do about it. You could argue that it influenced the result, but at the end of the day, it's a racing incident. It happens. Horses can be trained and schooled and all of that, but at the same time, they're still animals and can do unpredictable things. Vibrato Valtat ran a pretty good race in third, but Somersby couldn't quite land a blow and only finished fourth.

You have to wonder though, how much of this is a hollow victory. Yes, it must've been pleasing for the Moore's and it's confirmation that Sire isn't quite "gone at the game" just yet, but this was a diminished Tingle Creek field. Sprinter Sacre, Un De Sceaux and Simonsig all pulled out of the race and you'd have to wonder if all three ran if Moore's charge would even be in the frame. But that's all academic and for now, Sire de Grugy can bask in his glory.

Over in Ireland, on Sunday, Djakadam put down a big Gold Cup marker with an impressive win in the John Durkan. He beat Valseur Lido by twelve lengths and he's no slouch. Willie Mullins' six-year old jumped strongly throughout and extended his lead on the home straight. It was no surprise to see him cut for the Gold Cup betting on the back of that performance, but he might have to take on his stablemate Don Poli, who beat off Grand National winner Many Clouds at Aintree. Racing lazily, as is his custom, Don Poli did no more than he needed to, but despite a slipping saddle, he still won by four lengths without looking troubled.

Other impressive performances over the weekend included Nick Williams' Agrapart, who never looked troubled at Aintree, despite beating off the field by twenty lengths. It was the second impressive winner for Williams in as many days as the previous day Tea for Two romped home by a similar margin. Equally impressive was Ar Mad in the Henry VIII novices' chase who bolted off the front and wasn't for catching despite the best efforts of Bristol de Mai who finished ten lengths down in second. The final two horses I'd like to mention are Kalane for Charlie Longsdon and Pont Alexandre for Willie Mullins. The former put in an incredible round of jumping to claim a win at Huntingdon while the latter did not seem bothered in the slightest by being off the track for nearly a thousand days to claim a chase victory on debut. An impressive training performance, but that's no surprise from the master himself. 

I'm sure we'll hear more from many of these before the Festival in March.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them at the bottom of here, or hit me up on twitter @redgameracer