Blackhall Looks Overpriced At Leopardstown

Well it was a mixed day for the blog on Saturday, and unfortunately the race wasn't run to suit Contrapposto. I was hoping for a strong pace as I believe stamina is his strong suit, but Rivet was allowed to take them along at a leisurely gallop, and the race turned into a sprint in the final couple of furlongs. Contrapposto did get squeezed for room, but that was no excuse as he was going backwards and was beaten at the time.

It was a much better run from Letmestopyouthere, and it looked as though Cliff Lee had timed his challenge to perfection. However, the young jockey couldn't convince the Evans horse to go by the leader, and we had to be happy with 2nd. He was sent off at just 7/1 in the end, and it was a pity he couldn't get his head in front for those of us who were on at 20s.

I like the look of a 16/1 shot in the nursery at 3.40 at Leopardstown tomorrow, and Blackhall is a colt that first caught my eye when running a decent race on his debut in what has turned out to be a very hot maiden at Gowran Park (7f yld). He was slowly away that day, but he stayed on quite nicely in the closing stages to finish 7th, only 4.75L behind Firey Speech, a horse that won a maiden next time out, then a handicap off 88 afterwards before placing in a G3.

Blackhall failed to build on the promise of that debut effort on his next three maiden runs, but I think the more aggressive tactics deployed in those races didn't play to his strengths. He even dropped back to 6f at the Curragh on his penultimate start, and he faded after making the early running. He was stepped up to a mile for his handicap debut at Limerick last time out (soft) and he ran a cracking race off a mark of just 65.

Just like on his debut more patient tactics were adopted on Blackhall, and he was waited with in rear. About 2f out Declan McDonagh got to work, and Blackhall started to improve through the field. Crucially, just inside the 2f mark, McDonagh had to stop riding for a moment and angle Blackhall into a gap, and only for that I believe he would have finished even closer. In any case he still stayed on strongly in the final furlong, and he was only denied 3rd place by a neck.

The winner of that race, Duck Egg Blue, was just over 3L ahead of the Fahy horse, and that filly has been hit with a 7lb rise for that performance. Blackhall, on the other hand, was dropped a pound, so he gets 13lb off her today, instead of the 6lb he got last time. That should enable him to get a lot closer to that rival, and Leigh Roche has been booked for the ride as McDonagh can't do the weight. Roche's last ride for Fahy resulted in a win, and hopefully he can hit the frame again on Blackhall tomorrow at odds of 16/1.

STEVOS' SELECTION: 3.40 LEOPARDSTOWN: BLACKHALL E/W 16/1