Tipperary All Star will not go jumping this winter. Michael Halford’s three-year-old is to be put away for the season and will return next year for another Flat campaign.
All being well he will start over Hurdles the following autumn.
Tipperary All Star was expected to follow in the footsteps of last season’s top juvenile Hurdler and stablemate Golden Cross. He won a Listed race at the Curragh in May before finishing third to Nysaean and Handel in the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes at the same venue the following month.
He was put away after that June contest until reappearing in the Listed Trigo Stakes at Leopardstown two weeks ago when trailing in eighth of ten behind Livadiya.
Michael Halford has brighter news regarding Golden Cross. “I was very pleased with his run on the Flat at Leopardstown on Saturday considering that the gallop did not suit him.”
“He will be hard to place this season as he is highly rated. He was a similar horse to Mutineer last season and that one struggled in handicap company at Naas recently,” continued Halford.
“Charlie (Swan) said when he rode Golden Cross last season that he could develop into a top-class stayer, so I may give him a light campaign this winter and step him up in trip the following season.”
Golden Cross stayed on into third place behind Spectroscope in the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham in March. He was also doing his best work in the closing stages when filling the same position in the IAWS Champion Four Year Old Hurdle at Punchestown in May.
