'He'll be a hard one to replace' - in-form Jerandme heads for competitive chase

TRI Equestrian Handicap Chase | 2m5½f | RTV

The market should be informative for what looks a competitive handicap chase in which the eyes are drawn to bottomweight Rightplacerightime, representing Emmet Mullins.

Rightplacerightime, who has several Cheltenham Festival entries, was not at his best at Carlisle six days ago but would be a dangerous horse to underestimate off a nice racing weight.

The Francis Casey-trained Max Flamingo heads the weights with a rating of 142 and, although he would be a major interest if at his best, he is on a retrieval mission having unseated at the Dublin Racing Festival.

Ted Walsh's Batcio ran a cracker at that same meeting to finish third behind A Wave Of The Sea in a €50,000 handicap and a reproduction of that effort up in distance could see him involved again.

However, the one who appears most solid is the Noel Meade-trained Jerandme, who arrives after success on the all-weather and should go close as long as the ground is good.

What they say

Francis Casey, trainer of Max Flamingo
He unseated at the Dublin Racing Festival and we gave him a couple of weeks off after that, so we hope whatever he does here, he might be able to improve on it. The Irish National would look a good race for him further down the line, but we'll see how he gets on here first.

Paul Townend, rider of Fan De Blues
He’s got a lot of weight. He tipped up at the Dublin Racing Festival last time out but he was running consistently well before that. He is back up in trip and found it all a bit quick at Christmas.

Barry Connell, trainer of Mount Pelier
He’s in good form. We gave him a spin around in a schooling race at Fairyhouse recently and he showed that he still retains a level of ability. He jumps well and was third in a Grade 2 a couple of seasons ago. Unfortunately, he’s had a couple of setbacks but we’re hoping for a good run and are looking forward to starting him back.

Ted Walsh, trainer of Batcio
If he operates as well as he did here the last day and gets the extra half mile, well then he shouldn't be far away.

Noel Meade, trainer of Jerandme
He’s in great form and hopefully the ground doesn’t go soft on him. The faster the ground, the better chance he has. He’s the first horse the owner ever had in training, so he’ll be a hard one to replace.

Emmet Mullins, trainer of Rightplacerightime
He was very disappointing at Carlisle and we're on a retrieval mission here.

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