Lirakali
Noted previously after his hurdling bow at Gowran Park earlier this month, Lirakali is worthy of note again after he put up a nice performance in winning the two-mile-one-furlong novices' hurdle at Wexford on Sunday. Settled in third place early on by Darragh O'Keeffe, he made good ground around the outside as they raced around the home turn, and he jumped into the lead over the second last flight. He was a little tight to the last, but he corrected himself fairly nimbly and he cleared away from his rivals up the run-in to win by eight lengths.
It was a nice performance from Henry de Bromhead's horse, and the winning time was decent, the fastest comparative time of the day by some way and over five seconds faster than the handicap hurdle run over the same course and distance 35 minutes later. Second in his only bumper at Cork last May, Kenny Haughey's horse shaped with a lot of promise on his hurdling bow at Gowran Park in early October when he went down by the bob of a head to his much better-fancied stable companion Captain's Word, who had to survive a stewards' enquiry too, with the pair of them pulling nicely ahead of their rivals. This was a step up on that, and he should be able to continue his progression now. There is stamina in his pedigree and he shapes as if he could do even better over further, but he has pace as well, and it is interesting that his trainer mentioned the Royal Bond Hurdle as a possible next step now. He will be of interest wherever he goes next.
Wexford, 25th October 2026
Back