Crawford mulling the options for Gold Cup Bailly

‘He’s probably going to be forced to bite off a bit more the next day.’

Stuart Crawford feels Gold Cup Bailly is “definitely one to look forward to” as he plots the next move with his unbeaten chaser.

The County Antrim-based handler is well supported by owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede and has amassed plenty of ammunition in their famous ‘double green’ silks that have been a regular sight on raiding missions to the UK.

One of those at Crawford’s disposal is Gold Cup Bailly, a seven-year-old who secured a second Ayr victory on January 2, making a successful step up to three miles in the process.

“At this stage you would be hoping he can go a good while yet before he reaches his ceiling,” said Crawford.

“He’s still inexperienced, but he’s been foot-perfect with his jumping in his last couple of runs and I thought it was a good experience for him going up against seasoned handicappers the last day when he was obviously giving them weight as well.

“I know it was a small field, but it wasn’t a bad race for the grade of it and he’s come through that task well.

“He’s probably going to be forced to bite off a bit more the next day and he’ll be up into a better race again. He is definitely one to look forward to.”

Options remain open for the son of Turgeon’s next outing, with opportunities closer to home entering the equation as well as the Timeform Novices’ Handicap Chase on Cheltenham Trials Day later this month.

He continued: “Back in Ireland there will probably be a Grade Two or Grade Three novice we can look at or at Cheltenham at the end of January, the novices’ handicap there might be suitable.”

Crawford’s Newlands Farm base has become a real nursery for talent and soon to step out over hurdles for the first time is Lily Du Berlais, who beat a useful cast in a Grade Two bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival last year.

She is set to be aggressively campaigned with the intention of running in the top mares’ novice races in the spring, with the experience she has already banked standing her in good stead for the next stage of her career.

Lily Du Berlais (green) on her way to winning at the Dublin Racing Festival
Lily Du Berlais (green) on her way to winning at the Dublin Racing Festival (Niall Carson/PA)

“I would love to say I will keep her in her stable and keep her unbeaten, but we’ve already got her beat so I’m going to have to keep running her now,” said Crawford.

“I would imagine in the next couple of weeks we’ll be looking to get her started off in a maiden hurdle, then after that I imagine we would be pretty ambitious with her and give her a run or two in better company.

“She’s an exciting mare, there’s no two ways about it. She has a fair bit of experience under her belt as she was destined originally to start off point-to-pointing. So she’s had all that work done as a younger horse and we hope she won’t be too green the first day she runs over hurdles.

“You’ve got a very valuable race at Fairyhouse in the spring and that might be a suitable target for her further down the line, but hopefully we will be in the position where any of those better races, we’ll be fit to go to them anyway.”

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