Swingin Safari

(Sam Curling)

Ballinrobe, April 19th

It’s highly possible the concluding contest on Ballinrobe’s first card of 2024 will work out to be better than your typical four-year-old-only bumper at a country track around this time of year. The first two home, both by Walk In The Park, look to have decent futures, with the winner, Butch Cassidy, being viewed by his trainer Philip Fenton as a “nice prospect” for the long term. Runner-up Swingin Safari, trained by Sam Curling and ridden by Harry Swan, also showed enough to suggest he can win a bumper in due course, only missing out by half a length here. There was market support too behind the €30,000 store purchase, shortening from 9/1 to 4/1, and he can progress from this.

Abbey Actress

(John O’Donoghue)

Curragh, April 20th

There was a considerable step in the right direction from Make Believe three-year-old Abbey Actress on her second start for John O’Donoghue at the Curragh last Saturday. It was difficult to decipher what exactly went amiss for her on debut at Dundalk last December, with her rider effectively easing her out of the race while looking down to see if something was amiss. This was much more like it from her, however. She travelled well in the middle of the pack in this seven-furlong maiden against the boys and didn’t exactly have the clearest of passages when the race heated up. The most encouraging part of the performance was how she was the fastest of the first 10 home in the race through the final furlong.

Uncanny

(Donnacha O’Brien)

Curragh, April 20th

Heading into the Curragh last Saturday, it was interesting to see connections of the Sue Magnier and Annemarie O’Brien-owned Uncanny persisting with this previously unraced Churchill filly at the age of four. It implied the Donnacha O’Brien-trained newcomer must have a decent level of ability and she certainly caught the eye when flashing home for second in a 23-runner mile maiden. The winner, State Actor, got first run on the field and won snugly enough by two lengths but nothing finished faster in the final two furlongs than this daughter of a winning miler. She should have little issue winning a four-year-old-and-up maiden before long.

Campari Soda

(Dermot Weld)

Gowran Park, April 23rd

As was mentioned in this column last month, Dermot Weld doesn’t tend to push his horses overly hard on heavy ground early in the season - saddling no flat winner in March or April last year before a slew of successes and a red-hot 28% strike rate in May - so there’s every chance the best is still to come from many of his recent runners. There were certainly positives to take from the debut third of his Campari Soda at Gowran on Tuesday, running well from a wide draw behind an impressive winner. She’s bred to be useful, being a daughter of Showcasing from a cracking Moyglare family, and showed a bit of toe to get into a challenging position. She can make her mark in a maiden before the summer is out.

Kisiyra

(Johnny Murtagh)

Gowran Park, April 23rd

The three-year-old-only handicap at Gowran on Tuesday, won by Camelot Alexander, could end up being a race that produces multiple future winners, including the Johnny Murtagh-trained Kisiyra back in fourth. This was the Aga Khan filly’s first run in a handicap, and Ben Coen made plenty of use of her in the newly-fitted cheekpieces. By Sea The Moon and out of a mare who finished first past the post in a 10-furlong maiden, she should be able to stay this sort of nine-and-a-half-furlong trip in the fullness of time and copes with an ease in the ground. Given she hadn’t been seen for 176 days prior to this, it’s easy to envisage improvement from this effort. As an Aga Khan homebred, there’s always the chance for her to continue progressing with age and experience.