Back Finest Evermore in the right race

AT Tipperary on Monday thoughts were already turning to some high-profile jumping action later in the season.

The weather at Tipperary certainly resembled that of the depths of the winter but of far more significance was the performance of Finest Evermore in a two-and-a-half-mile maiden hurdle. On her debut for Willie Mullins at Cork last month, this daughter of Yeats looked a class act when cruising to a bumper success.

Monday’s assignment, her first over hurdles, she proved even more impressive as she made all the running to score by an ever-increasing 33 lengths. This wasn’t the strongest of races but the manner in which Finest Evermore dispatched the challenge of the capable Roscommon bumper winner Papal Lodge was quite striking.

Admittedly the relevance of a summer maiden hurdle to what might transpire at graded level from November through to next April might seem a little remote.

However, recent history relates that plenty of quality jumpers have taken their formative steps in the summer months before going on to much greater acclaim later in the season.

Indeed Eglantine Du Seuil, who won the Mares’ Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham for Willie Mullins a couple of years ago, won her maiden hurdle at Sligo in late August before going to record that Grade 2 success just two runs later.

Whether Finest Evermore can match those heights remains to be seen but there was absolutely no doubt after Tipperary that this mare has realistic prospects of making her mark in quality company over the coming months. The ease with which she coped with unusually testing ground earlier this week bodes well for her prospects later this year.

It might seem a tad fanciful to start putting her up as the one to beat in the Mares’ Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham next March but at 25/1 she is surely worth some sort of investment as those odds are surely likely to contract as she attempts to work her way through the ranks.

Ill-informed bookies

A quick look at various ante-post markets this week revealed that Finest Evermore was still being quoted for the Cheltenham Bumper for which she is ineligible, having run over jumps.

If bookmakers are prepared to offer ante-post betting months in advance of Cheltenham they should at the very least inform themselves as to whether a horse is qualified to run in a race or not.

The onus should not fall solely on punters to inform themselves and what would happen if someone backed this mare ante-post for the bumper at Cheltenham given that odds were being offered about a horse that simply isn’t qualified to run on the race.

It remains a constant irritant as it happens year in and year out.