DERMOT WELD may be busy winding his enormous string of horses up for the new flat season but he can prove his Curragh stable is in form by landing the opening Templemore Maiden Hurdle at Thurles today with Shahrur.
Go back a month and there would have been many on the Curragh who would have laughed if it was suggested to them that this horse would be trying to win his maiden on a day like today but that is the case.
Once raced on the flat in England he might have been, but Shahrur was being confidently spoken of as a potential Triumph Hurdle candidate long before he had even seen a hurdle in public. However when he eventually did see one, it turned out to be relatively disapointing.
That was at Listowel at the start of the month and Shahrur wound up being beaten two lengths into second by Red Tonic in an ordinary looking race. That, however, is worth forgiving. Shahrur drifted in the market beforehand and was certainly inconvenienced by the soft ground.
Today's good ground will be far more to his liking and the opposition doesn't look awe inspiring. The best of them should be Apache Twist who ran a reasonable race behind Keal Ryan at Naas last Sunday but whose form is exposed. In contrast, improvement can be reasonably expected from Shahrur.
Another who will find today's company more to his liking will be Boss Doyle who looks nailed on, if virtually unbackable, in the WT O'Grady Memorial Hurdle.
Several good judges rated Boss Doyle as having a good chance in Cheltenham's Sun Alliance Hurdle, but he eventually faded to finish 11th behind Istabraq. A win at Tralee and a second to What's The Verdict at Clonmel had been Boss Doyle's immediate pre Cheltenham record and he should get back to that sort of form today.
Father Rector was much the best hurdler among the field for the Phil Sweeney Novice Chase but hasn't run since October. If Paddy Fennelly's charge is near right on his reappearance he will take a lot of beating, but that's an if worth opposing with Dearborn Tee Andrew Lee's horse ran a nice enough race when fourth to Corriblough at Navan last time.
