Three Horses To Follow From The Weekends Performances

Khuzaam on Friday kickstarted the bank holiday weekend for favourite backers as the five year old went on to land the All-Weather Championships Conditions Stakes.

What was so taking about this performance was the way that the gelding took lengths out of the field coming round the bend and went on to take the race by five lengths.

You do not normally see horses in these types of competitive races win so easily and when that does happen it is worth taking note of.

The son of Kitten's Joy now has form figures of 21122211 on the all weather making him a bit of a specialist and although he was obviously saved for this event, he is worth following during the flat season.

Moving on to Sunday and it was a day for the mares to remember especially for Echoes In Rain for Willie Mullins, who took on the boys in the Grade Two Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse and blew them away.

Although getting a slight bit of weight off the field, she could have been giving them weight and still won on the day, giving out a hammering to the field winning by 15 lengths never coming off the bridle.

This mare has been highly progressive throughout the season, winning at Naas two starts ago when seeing off Cheltenham festival winner Belfast Banter and then stepping into Graded company on Sunday, against the boys and giving them a battering makes her a horse to be on the right side of going forward.

She has bundles of ability and if staying over hurdles next term, could be one to focus on for the big Grade Ones, getting weight again off the top horses in the two mile hurdling division.

The story of the weekend was the win of the Shark O'Hanlon trained Skyace in the Grade One Mares Hurdle, with the mare costing £600 back in 2019 and has since gone on to land numerous black type events, with the pinnacle coming on Sunday.

The six year old was bought for next to nothing after running in three bumpers for Willie Mullins and placing in all three of the events.

She was then given to Shark Hanlon and on her debut over timber at Tipperary she got off to a winning start and backed that up straight after at Gowran with another smart win.

The mare has been raced frequently in such little time but has truly come into her own this term winning three of her last four events.

Having been tried over different staying trips and it not working out, Hanlon moved her back to 2m at Down Royal and at odds of 66/1 saw off Champion Bumper third Queen's Brook to land the Grade Three Mares Novice Hurdle.

She was next seen at Punchestown and although running in the thick fog, went on to land another superb event at odds at 28/1 taking the Listed Voler La Vedette Mares Novice Hurdle.

Having ran a cracker to finish fourth in the Grade Two Mares' Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham festival, she came out of the race well and headed to Fairyhouse where she stayed on to beat the Willie Mullins trained Gauloise.

What a story.