Image © Healy Racing
Asian Master is set to return to the track at Cork on Easter Monday, with the Jack Tyner Memorial Hunters Steeplechase firmly on the agenda following his recent open double.
Tony Costello confirmed that the nine-year-old has been entered for the Mallow contest, having returned to form in recent weeks with successive victories at Kildorrery and Belclare, and he reports the gelding to be in good order ahead of the assignment.
“He is entered for Monday and the plan is to run. He seems to be all right anyway.”
The son of Shirocco had first hinted at a return to his best when finishing second to the useful Sam Curling-trained The Great Unknown on his reappearance at Bellharbour, shaping with plenty of promise before stepping forward on his subsequent starts.
He built on that effort to land the Open at Kildorrery before producing a dominant performance at Belclare, where he travelled powerfully throughout before quickening clear from two out.
“Sure, he did it nicely. I don’t know that he beat a very high standard of horse, but he beat them anyway. All you can do is beat whatever turns up on the day.”
Those victories have prompted a switch in focus back towards the track, although connections were left frustrated after discovering he did not qualify for the Aintree Foxhunters.
“We thought he was qualified for Aintree because he had two Opens won, but it’s not the same qualification as Cheltenham. You have to be placed in a hunter chase as well, and he hasn’t run in one in nearly three years, so we didn’t fit the criteria.”
Instead, Cork now represents the immediate target.
“The next plan is Mallow on Monday and fingers crossed we can continue getting home in front.”
Asian Master had previously enjoyed success between the flags for the Costello family before going on to a high-class career under Rules with Willie Mullins, finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and winning twice over hurdles.
“When he went to Willie Mullins, the plan was always to go hunter chasing, but Willie being the genius he is made a Supreme horse out of him.
“When he came back to us, we thought about running him on the track again, maybe in some of the lesser races, but we quickly realised when we ran in Cork in November that we were out of our depth in that regard.
“So we just went back to the simplicity of point-to-pointing and hunter chasing. It’s great fun, we’ve had a couple of winners, and there’s no downside.”
Asian Master is ridden by Costello’s son Thomas, who has been enjoying a strong season, with the horse very much a family success.
“Thomas is back home with me now. We have a farm here and quite a few store horses as well, so there’s plenty going on.”
The yard currently has a small but varied team in training, with two point-to-pointers, one horse for the track, and a number of store horses being prepared for the sales.
Looking beyond Cork, Costello was also critical of the current race planning for open hunter chasers, expressing his disappointment at the lack of spacing between key races.
“I was more than disappointed with the race planning. There were two hunter chases within 24 hours of each other this weekend, and if they had been spaced out, we would have run in both.
“If you run on Sunday, you can’t run on Monday, and vice versa. It just doesn’t make sense. If they were a couple of weeks apart, you’d get more runners and more competitive races.”
Asian Master is reported to be in good form, with Cork and Punchestown looking set to be the key targets for the remainder of the campaign.
Asian Master is reported to be in good form, with Cork and Punchestown looking set to be the key targets for the remainder of the campaign.
