A sentence I never thought I would write: what do Naas Racecourse and Chunky Kit Kats have in common? The more astute of you may have noticed that Freedom to Dream is running at Naas on Sunday in a 2m 2 ½ furlong handicap hurdle, a race which in previous years was run over 2m 4f and was advertised this year as 2m 3f. It just keeps getting shorter, and by the time we get there tomorrow, it may be down to two miles. Having spent the last few days in the UK, a very similar dynamic appears to have beset Nestle and the strange story of the ever-diminishing Chunky Kit Kat: it is certainly not chunky now and, apart from the fact you can’t break it in half down the middle, it more closely resembles the old two-fingered Kit Kats which were so pathetic they had to introduce the Chunky version. I haven’t had time to conduct a full competitive review, but I suspect the only chocolate that has not decreased in size are the bars of Toblerone that those very friendly ladies offer when exiting any Irish racecourse. To be fair, the explanation for this phenomenon is not that they have discovered a secret Toblerone supplier but, rather, that those Toblerones are at least 10 years old!
Can you tell that I am delaying talking about Freedom to Dream? To paraphrase Winston Churchill: “I cannot forecast to you the action of Freedom to Dream. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key. That key is blinkers.” Yes, we are trying first-time blinkers tomorrow; we had discussed cheekpieces but, I think Peter couldn’t get the noseband to fit, so he changed his mind! After his last run, Ben Harvey (jockey) said he was sure he was going to be placed after the 2nd last but that the horse felt intimidated by other horses (my interpretation). If you look at the race again, it's almost impossible to believe that horses who were miles behind him after the second last somehow finished miles in front of him at the end. It was more than him not staying (it was 2m 7f) and very difficult to explain. We have tried him in blinkers at home, and they seem to have sharpened him up; we will just have to wait and see if they work the Oracle.
In terms of any pre-race analysis, what’s the point? If he runs to his ability, he wins with his head in his chest; if he runs like he has been doing, he will be lucky to beat any of the others. You pay your money, and you take your choice! That being said, a forecast price of 25/1 – 33/1 is pretty tempting to a couple of quid.
We like this race because if he were to finish in the first six, he would qualify for the final, which will be run on Day One of the Punchestown Festival at the end of April. That final is worth over €80000 and is over a more suitable 2m 4f, and he likes the course. However, unless he shows some spark, we would be wasting our time thinking of Punchestown even if he finishes in the first six. He is carrying top weight, so we have chosen to claim off him and are putting up Eamonn Fitzgerald, who can claim seven pounds; that will bring his weight down to 11.5 (159 pounds for my American friends). Eamonn, who has to be almost six feet tall, has ridden at 9.9 (135 pounds) in the last few months, so he will be able to have a decent meal tonight. He works at Peter’s yard and is the most positive person you will ever meet. He wanted to ride Freedom to Dream at Leopardstown last year and said he would walk there to do so. That is about 43 miles, so if you see a six-foot stick on the R445 sprinting the 20 miles to Naas, do not be surprised!
The distance is probably too short, but Naas is a stiff track, and the likely winter soft ground will make it feel more like 2 ½ miles
I have been staying with my mum for the last few days, so will be making a day trip to Ireland before going next Thursday and staying for the Dublin Racing Festival. I am taking my uncle, who has little knowledge of racing but knows how to enjoy himself. My parents didn’t really drink, so I relied on him a lot to steer me in the wrong direction when I was younger, a task he accomplished with alacrity. With memories of previous days and nights out still fresh in my mind, it will be a car service day tomorrow.
I am looking forward to next weekend as, in addition to a group of us going to the DRF, I will catch up with Peter and Ber and also get to see Suprise Package. Peter says he is in fantastic form and has done a ton of walking. I think he may be being ridden by next week, so it will be great to see how he’s doing. There’s still a long way to go and a few milestones to achieve, but so far, he is showing all of the right signs. It's interesting to look back and see that, in 2021, he ran five times between the end of January and April and eight times between October and April in the following season. These are numbers that would make Nicky Henderson’s head spin, and while I am not comparing him to Constitution Hill, I would say Surprise Package has now missed two entire seasons through injury at a peak age. What a waste if we had not enjoyed him when we had the chance (well, apart from his first run at Thurles)
I refuse to concede that Freedom to Dream’s best days were two years ago; let’s hope he enjoys himself and shows some real spark tomorrow.