No one will be keeping fingers crossed more tightly than Gordon Elliott that jumps action resumes at Navan on Sunday. With the €100,000 Bective Stud Handicap Hurdle up for grabs, as well as the Grade Two Navan Novice Hurdle, Elliott could break through the €2 million mark in prizemoney won during the Irish National Hunt season.
Leading the trainer’s championship with over €1.9 million already in the bag, no one will have lamented more such disruption caused by the current cold snap.
Elliott has a total of 19 runners declared for Sunday’s action at Navan, as well as a handful in Thurles, in efforts to resume where he left off before weather conditions intervened.
Half a dozen of those Navan entries are in the big handicap prize, including the prolific mare Jungle Prose, who tries to extend her winning streak to five in a row. She is 12lbs higher in the ratings for her last win at Navan but did win very cosily on that occasion and again looks a leading player.
Also included in the 23-strong field are stars such as last season’s Aintree Grand National runner-up Any Second Now and Charles Byrnes’s English Cesarewitch hero Run For Oscar. The Jam Man takes his chance too for controversial trainer Ronan McNally who has engaged claimer Kieran Buckley for the ride.
Lurking at the other end of the handicap, though, is another rapidly progressive Elliott hope in Maxxum. He could hardly have won any easier on his second start for Elliott when justifying a gamble at the track last month under Davy Russell. Sam Ewing takes the mount now off 10.1, and although raised a whopping 17lbs there’s no knowing how much Maxxum had in hand on his last start.
Elliott has a trio of hopefuls in the Grade Two where the season’s top jockey, Jack Kennedy, teams up with Absolute Notions. Along with stable companion Deeply Superficial he is a horse of some potential for the future, although both concede significantly in experience to Carnfunnock. Daryl Jacob takes the mount on Stuart Crawford’s runner, who made a winning start over flights at Ayr last month.
Carnfunnock did have an extensive bumper career though, winning two of his five starts, including mixing it with Facile Vega.
Leading names such as Samcro, Envoi Allen and Sir Gerhard are among the recent winners of Sunday’s concluding Listed Future Champions Bumper, a race Elliott has won in six of the last seven years. Caldwell Potter and Cato Capone are his hopes this time in a contest where Willie Mullins relies solely on the regally bred Special Cadeau. The son of 1,000 Guineas winner Speciosa won his sole start for Pam Sly in England before switching to Mullins.
Arctic Ambition looked a handicap “good-thing” on his last start at Tramore only to be hampered and unseat Kennedy at the third last flight. Russell takes over in another handicap hurdle on Sunday where a mark of 86 looks exploitable.
Sunday’s scheduled Thurles action features a Listed mares’ novice hurdle with a notable history. No less than Honeysuckle landed the prize in 2018, while the result a year before was noted for Killahara Castle’s 200-1 SP, the first horse in Ireland to win at those huge odds.
With Rachael Blackmore due to ride at Navan, Henry de Bromhead has booked Darragh O’Keeffe for Belle The Lioness, a promising runner-up to Intranet in a Punchestown maiden last month.
Miss Agusta ran fourth to Jetera in a decent bumper at Navan, and should be a leading contender in the Thurles finale.
