It has been another sterling week for Rachael Blackmore with the queen of National Hunt racing winning the hearts and minds of the public yet again. She is the current holder of the Champion Hurdle, the Gold Cup and the Grand National. It’s back to normal service for the time being and she was victorious in her only ride at Thurles over the weekend. Blackmore has just one ride at Clonmel on Tuesday and it would be unwise to ignore it.
Spyglass Hill was a winner over Christmas at Limerick in a Grade B handicap chase. The form of that victory looks solid. There have been two subsequent winners including Longhouse Poet who was last to finish that day and he won the Thyestes next time out.
The strength of that form makes Spyglass Hill’s run last time in a Grade A contest at Leopardstown even more perplexing. A 6lb rise he received for his run wouldn’t explain his below par effort. The de Bromhead yard is in better form having won arguably the two biggest races at Cheltenham last week.
It’s likely that we’ll see a much improved performance from this gelding as conditions are in his favour and the stable is firing again. The weight conditions of this race mean Spyglass Hill has all but one of his rivals covered. His rating is significantly higher than most of his competitors who he’ll be racing off of the same weight as. He has a few pounds to find with one rival, the Willie Mullins-trained Blackbow. However, this rival often seems to find a way to lose and that combined with the Rachael Blackmore factor must give this lad a big chance.
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