Birdcatcher throws up very promising type in King Of Bavaria A winner at Naas on debut in May, Ballydoyle's King Of Bavaria returned to the County Kildare venue for start two, and duly defied top-weight off a 176 day break in the Tally-Ho Stud Irish EBF Birdcatcher Premier Nursery Handicap. It wasn't a surprise to hear winning trainer Aidan O'Brien say in the aftermath: “We're delighted with him, it's a long time since he ran and we were very worried about the ground." The Seamie Heffernan-ridden No Nay Never colt was looking reasonably promising from a fair way out and he eventually upstaged Past Time and Magniffico by a length and a half and a length and a quarter. “We thought he was a nice horse and thought he was an Ascot horse when we ran him here (in May) but he just had a little bit of a setback and didn't get back," further reflected O'Brien. “We missed going to Leopardstown with him, Mrs Stockwell's horse (Glounthaune) went there instead. This was the last opportunity to get a run into him. “He has plenty of speed and obviously handles that ground but handles good ground very well too. “We'll look forward to him next year, train him for one of the Guineas trials and if we think he's not going to get a mile come back to five or six with him as he has plenty of speed.” The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board Veterinary Officer examined Seeingisbelieving, trained by Michael Mulvany, at the request of the Stewards and reported the animal to be post race normal. Samples were taken for analysis. G.F. Carroll, rider of Seeingisbelieving trained by Michael Mulvany, reported to the Clerk of Scales that his mount ran flat. (GC & EM)
