Irish Cesarewitch target for HMS Seahorse

Nolan runner bolted up at the Curragh on Saturday.

Paul Nolan has nominated the lucrative Friends of the Curragh Irish Cesarewitch as a likely objective for Saturday’s impressive winner HMS Seahorse.

A hefty 19lb rise in the weights means he is almost guaranteed a run in the prestigious handicap on September 25 – and with EURO 600,000 on offer, it is no wonder it is a tempting target.

While the Galway Hurdle will also come under consideration, it is the Irish Cesarewitch that has got Nolan excited.

“He’s gone up 19lb so we won’t have to worry about getting him into anything on the Flat,” said Nolan.

“We’re thinking about the Cesarewitch as it’s such a big pot. He’s been to Cheltenham and he’s been to Punchestown, but he’s still got low mileage.

“We might not run him on the Flat until the Cesarewitch, but we will have a look at Galway before then for the Galway Hurdle off his current mark. He went up 4lb for finishing third in the Grade One at Punchestown so he might sneak into it. I’d say his main target at the moment though is the Cesarewitch.

“He’s still a colt and until that becomes an issue I don’t see any reason to change it. There’s no point fixing something if it is not broken.

“All his runs before we got him were reasonably good so it’s not often you can get one like him for the price (24,000 guineas) we did and for him to take to hurdling, because an awful lot of them off the Flat don’t.

“We were hoping he’d run really well on Saturday, but we weren’t expecting a performance like that. He’s rated 101 now so that’s what we’re thinking – I don’t think there’s any point in running on the Flat before the Irish Cesarewitch.”

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