Navan Today

granger said:
Mikael D'haguene. Found plenty at the end. One for the notebook. He is in good hands
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Mikael D'haguenet Yes certainly impressed me I just love to see a horse with a finish and this certainly has a finish,allbeit only a two mile maiden but yes one would have to agree, one to note for the future.........
 
Will be very interesting to see how the horse has campaigned when the major Festivals roll around. Meade was quite categorical about not wanting to risk him on fast ground, but the lure of Cheltenham could prove tough to resist!

Regarding the Ballymore, I would rather back Academy Sir Harry or Mad Max at 20's than I would Pandorama at 7's.
 
Would prefer to be on Hurricane Fly at 16's with the Tote to be honest - impressive on his Irish debut and since shown his versatility over the brush hurdles at Auteuil. Just waiting to see him come back.

Every time I see a Meade horse I think of Youlneverwalkalone, Sweet Wake, Aran Concerto etc.
 
Irish Stamp said:
Would prefer to be on Hurricane Fly at 16's with the Tote to be honest - impressive on his Irish debut and since shown his versatility over the brush hurdles at Auteuil. Just waiting to see him come back.
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Me too. Mullins has tipped him as his horse to watch out for this season. He has an entry in the Royal Bond at Fairyhouse next weekend
 
Good to see Nick Mordin isn't getting carried away with himself over Pandorama.. :rolleyes:

PANDORAMA IS VERY SPECIAL
PANDORAMA (39) earned the biggest speed rating I've given a novice hurdler this season when literally cantering away with a maiden hurdle at Navan. And I've no doubt at all that he could have run a whole lot faster if he'd been ridden out instead of being allowed to simply coast home from well before the last.
I say this because his jockey, Paul Carberry, was motionless throughout the race, and allowed Pandorama to slow down once he had the race won. As a result he took 15.4 seconds to run from the last to the finish. I'm certain he could at least have equaled the 13.7 seconds which the visibly tired Catch Me took in the big Conditions hurdle on the same card. If he had then he'd have earned the biggest speed rating I normally ever give a novice hurdler all season and the biggest I can ever recall awarding a hurdling debutante.
Pandorama just lobbed along in the early stages, slowly moving up from fifth to eventually run a close second with four to jump. At that point Carberry took the first of several looks back over his shoulder and clearly liked what he saw because he didn't move a muscle.
Up the straight Carberry allowed Pandorama a little bit of extra rein and he instantly had everything bar JUDGE ROY BEAN (35) in trouble. And he had that one well beaten by the time he jumped the last.
Pandorama's jumping was the only area you could criticise. In the early stages he was overjumping the hurdles slightly. But that's what steeplechasers do when they revert to hurdles. (Pandorama was a point to pointer). Then, when he was given his head up the straight, he misjudged the last three and clattered through them all. But this is the norm for a hurdling debutante. And the errors were slight, costing him no momentum.
As is the case with virtually all point to pointers, Pandorama lost his first start between the flags. But then he won a hot maiden at Dungarvan, clocking the fastest time of the day (a second faster than a good Open). Two huge margin wins in bumpers followed. And now he's done this.
Pandorama does show a bit of knee action, and trainer Noel Meade says he needs it soft. In the old days this would have been of little consequence. But these days a large percentage of the big jump races are run at the Festival meetings in the Spring. And changing weather patterns seem to produce fast ground at these meetings pretty much every year. This being so Meade will surely press on with Pandorama during the Winter months while the ground is in his favour.
Right now I would bet Pandorama to beat pretty much any horse over hurdles or fences on soft ground at two and a half miles or more. As I see it he's one of the most exciting national hunt prospects we've seen in years. I just hope his connections aren't tempted into running him on unsuitably fast ground at one of the Spring Festivals.

To think this was written before yesterday's victory as well!

I've taken the liberty of italicizing a couple of comments I found particularly interesting.
 
Irish Stamp said:
Would prefer to be on Hurricane Fly at 16's with the Tote to be honest - impressive on his Irish debut and since shown his versatility over the brush hurdles at Auteuil. Just waiting to see him come back.

Every time I see a Meade horse I think of Youlneverwalkalone, Sweet Wake, Aran Concerto etc.
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Credit is due to people like this for putting me on to the Hurricane.
 
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