Shelford attuned for his debut handicap in the Dublin Horse Show Handicap
The Dublin Horse Show Handicap has pulled together a line-up of nine versatile three-year and above runners for the mile and six furlong race at Leopardstown on Thursday, 26th July. There is a mix of lightly raced and well seasoned rides on the track today along with three racing their debut handicaps; I Have A Dream, Shelford and Katevan.
The most promising candidate is the 5 to 2 shot entry, Shelford. Galileo’s gelding has raced just twice through the career that began in 2012.
The three-year-old Irish bay gelding ended third in the Live At Leopardstown 3YO Maiden at Leopardstown over a mile and four furlongs. The three-year-old was ridden by jockey, N. G. McCullagh.
The pair did not fall into a high gear right after taking off from the third gate and by the time half of the distance went underway, they were sixth in the field of seven. They were still sixth when the straight approached with no chance to impact the finishing of the winner.
The race was won by, Show Court, who had 6 ½ lengths in his favour.
Learning and improving after the first failure, the favourite entry of the “Jape” Maiden broke away from the maiden on 12th July, 2012 at Leopardstown over a mile and four furlongs.
This time paired up with the genius of his profession, Johnny Murtagh, the three-year-old raced third in the field of eleven after bolting out from the fourth gate. The bay gelding out of mare, Lyrical, made all the possible effort by the home turn to join the leaders.
The John M. Oxx trained won by the margin of 3 ¼ lengths and set Dougal Philps as the runner-up.
The distance over which the Brittas & Minch Bloodstock bred has to race is two furlongs longer than his maiden distance however, the ground conditions remain soft.
Shelford will get coupled with jockey, Johnny Murtagh for a second time and the two will break from the sixth gate, Takeyourcapoff on one side and Tantalising on the other.
The connections are expecting that Shelford’s improved form will reflect through his performance today.
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