JUMPERS WITH BIG TARGETS

Karl Hedley with some horses that can hit the ground running this season

The nights are drawing in and the Flat season across Ireland is ending for 2023. That means that attention is now switching to the national hunt sphere as we charge towards the Christmas period in anticipation of the winter and spring festivals. All of the top national hunt yards will be cranking up the gears in the coming weeks as they prepare to target their stable stars at all of the top races. I have highlighted below some of the runners who have caught my eye already and they may well have bigger targets in mind.

Rated 100 on the level, Goodie Two Shoes made the breakthrough on her fourth start over flights, as she ran out a comfortable winner of the opener at Killarney, the Maiden Hurdle over an extended two miles.

Already tried in Grade 3 company, the Joseph O’Brien-trained four year-old disappointed at Down Royal on her latest start, finishing third when sent off an odds-on chance.

Although a well-supported favourite for this, the Fastnet Rock bay raced mainly in third under Simon Torrens but was left second by the heavy fall of market rival Silent Approach five flights from the home.

The JP McManus-owned victor closed on the front-running Zoomtime on the approach to the straight and she got to the front two out, soon stretching clear and coming home eight lengths to the good.

The aforementioned Zoomtime had to settle for second under Abbie Fitzgibbon, while Lackaneen Mag was a further nine-and-a-half lengths away in third.

The well-backed Caoimhes Pet made a winning return from injury and 227 days off when proving trainer Eoin McCarthy with a timely success in Killarney’s Handicap Hurdle again over an extended two miles.