Ballynagour set to take part in Byrne Group Plate
Ballynagour is all set to represent his team in the Grade 3 Byrne Group Plate at Cheltenham in England on Thursday, March 14, 2013. This will be his second race of the ongoing season and his fans will be expecting him to be strong, despite the presence of
some quality performers.
According to his trainer David Pipe, “Ballynagour is set to run in Thursday's Byrne Group Plate, the race we won with Salut Flo last year. This looks the ideal stepping-stone, over the same trip as when he won so impressively at Warwick last month. He will
be left in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle as well but he'll probably end up in the Byrne Group.”
The veteran trainer added, “We haven't done very much with him since Warwick but if he runs like he did there he'll take a lot of beating - although he hasn't put two good runs together yet.”
The seven-year-old gelding started off his career in 2010 and his performances have been really impressive since then. He appeared in a few events during his debut season, but was unable to finish the first ever race he took part in. He took a heavy tumble,
but still managed to recover and participate in future events.
Consistency has been a little issue with the Irish challenger, as he has the tendency of choking under pressure on a few occasions. However, he has gained quite a lot of experience and should be fine at Cheltenham. He is now fully aware of how to handle
pressure and should not disappoint his fans.
This year, Shantou’s son appeared in just one race and was rated as the favourite to succeed in it. He had to cope with difficult ground conditions, so there would have been immense pressure on him and his jockey too. However, things went on really well
for him, as he claimed the top spot comfortably.
No one was able to come anywhere closer to him and he created a massive lead of 19 lengths at the end of the day. Overall, he has participated in 11 events, winning three of them whereas secured the runner up position on a couple of times.
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