A small-field contest, in which two or three scarcely counted, but it did seem to settle the question of which is the best juvenile hurdler trained in Britain, as Monmiral would have won even had the Triumph runner-up Adagio not made things easier for him with a blunder at the last. The question as to which is the best juvenile hurdler trained in Britain and Ireland combined – for which Quilixios, Zanahiyr and possibly even Haut En Couleurs are also candidates – may be settled at Punchestown. A slight word of caution about this form is that neither the overall time nor the splits are especially good: Monmiral was fully 6.3s slower than the winner of the later bumper, and equal or slower late on, a 101.8% race finishing speed pretty unremarkable.
MONMIRAL (153 here and previously) showed himself to be a very smart juvenile hurdler even more convincingly than he had in beating 141-rated Nassalam at Haydock the time before, slight concerns about the time value of this win aside, racing in third, leading just after two out going well but immediately looking to have a fight on his hands as the runner-up closed, handed an advantage of two to three lengths there then powering away, merely kept up to his work. Quite a bit more would be needed to make a similar impact in open company next season, which is possible rather than probable, though the likelihood is that he will go chasing sooner or later, from a family with plenty of success in that department.
ADAGIO (143 here, 148 previously) would have finished closer, but probably no more than that given how strongly the winner finished off, had he not blundered at the last when produced to challenge, patiently ridden and tracking his main rival before delivered with what seemed a well-timed run, his effort slightly petering out after he got balanced again. His jumping had been better in previous starts, and there I nothing to stop him continuing to run well, handicaps likely to be a better option than open Graded races. His run did no harm for the form of the Triumph if you make due allowance for circumstance.
FIVEANDTWENTY (124 here, 132 previously) was essentially not good enough at this level, though probably a bit better than the result in setting the pace (not a fast one, as sectionals show) against superior rivals, racing keenly and headed just after two out then weakening. She has won at 14f on the flat but needs to settle to get beyond 2m in this sphere, even on a sharp track.
JOHN LOCKE (119 here and previously) has the potential to do better, given his ability on the flat, but worryingly was found to have bled here, set plenty to do and only briefly making headway.
PAROS (101 here, 134 previously) had plenty on but ran poorly even so, jumping right before weakening from prominence.
