Paul Townend concerned by Ferny Hollow’s lack of experience
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Ladbrokes ambassador Paul Townend discusses the prospects of his five runners at Naas and Navan this weekend.
Saturday
She is a really nice mare. She won the mares’ bumper at Aintree last year and that is a good standard. Her schooling has gone very well and hopefully she can transfer that onto the racecourse and run a very solid race. She will be my best ride of the day. I am really looking forward to riding her and I think she has a good season ahead.
She was keeping the highest of company last year in bumpers. She ran a cracker at Sandown last year as well. She will come on for the experience. She is taking on the boys but we are getting the mares’ allowance which will be a help. She has been schooling well at home and will run a consistent race.
Cash Back is a funny one. He is off a nice mark over hurdles compared to fences. He just seems to lose confidence over fences or something like that, it is hard to say. He had a couple of nice runs back over hurdles.
First run of the year in a competitive handicap like this will be hard. He likes to get on with it so I am not sure if the step up in trip is ideal for him, but maybe as he gets older he is starting to learn more about the game and relax. He has plenty of weight but the appealing part is his mark over hurdles compared to his mark over fences.
Sunday
He is a nice recruit for us this year. He ran to a high level over hurdles last year. His schooling has been good at home. Colonel Mustard is going to be hard to beat but I like our horse a lot since we got him and hopefully he can get his career off to a good start.
Ferny is obviously a very good horse but he has missed plenty of time. He’s only had the two runs over jumps. Look, he sets the standard for me but the lack of experience is a worry, especially taking on these.
Andy Dufresne comes out very well in the weights and Captain Guinness likes to get on with it but it is a nice place to start Ferny off and get a bit more experience into him. We all know he is a very good horse. I was very taken with his run in the Grade 1 at Leopardstown last year, and hopefully we get a clear run this year.
