Paul Townend column: inside track on my Friday and Saturday rides

We sadly had to retire our old friend Appreciate It this week. He’s been a good stalwart around the place for a number of years now, so I’d say he’ll be missed by plenty of members of the team at Closutton. He achieved a lot in his career, and was a real gentleman to deal with, but he probably never quite lived up to the potential he showed as a novice hurdler. He absolutely bolted up in the Supreme in 2021, and I doubt I’ll ever ride an easier winner of a Grade 1 at the Festival than that. Everything was so straightforward for him. He won a Supreme as if it were a maiden hurdle – he was devastating that day. Even his last race at Thurles a few weeks ago he was brilliant, and he was always a good spin and had a great appetite for the sport. I hope he enjoys his retirement as he’s been a great servant and he’s definitely earned it.

Providing the meeting gets the go ahead, I’m off to Exeter on Friday for the first time to ride Fun Fun Fun in the Mares’ Chase (15:14). It’s probably a good find for her, this race, as she’s been to Exeter before and won, but she has also been beaten here over fences, so hopefully she’ll be back in the winners’ enclosure on Friday afternoon. On ratings, she comes out on top, and I’m sure she’s the one everybody would want to ride in the race, but she does need to bounce back after a couple of below-par efforts on her last few starts at Doncaster & Punchestown. This will be the most testing ground she’s encountered over this sort of trip, so that’s a bit of an unknown, but I think she’ll be fine. It’s a nice fair track, so if she’s anywhere near her best, then I’d be confident she can get her head back in front.

It’s then back over to Ireland on Saturday to ride Grangeclare West in the Bobbyjo (15:15) at Fairyhouse – a race that both I Am Maximus and Nick Rockett have been victorious in en route to winning the big one at Aintree. Willie has four in the race, and while Grangeclare West is the most exposed of them, he’s been running to a very high level to earn the rating he has so I think he was the obvious one for me to ride. I am forgiving him his last run at the Dublin Racing Festival, because it wasn’t good, but I suspect the run at Christmas left its mark on him so although I think he’ll be happier on a nice bit of spring ground, I’m hoping we’ll see a better showing from him this weekend. Captain Cody would be another interesting contender from our yard as he’s on the up all the time, so he could bounce back from falling early in the Thyestes last time out. I’m sure this is a race that will throw up plenty of clues for the Grand National at Aintree in April.