it was fantastic to see Intense Raffles win the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse over the Easter weekend, not least because I have been following the horse ever since his impressive debut in 2021. Like many jumps horses, he began his career in AQPS Flat races in the French Provinces. His debut came when winning a 3-year-old race at Argentan in the summer of 2021, a performance that stood out at the time because he ran the final 3-furlongs in a faster time than the 6-furlong Flat handicappers on the same card. It would have been impossible to imagine what he might go on to achieve at that stage of his career, but it does highlight the value of studying these races.
With that in mind I have shared my notes from 2 of these races that were run last weekend at Lignieres and Lion D'Angers below (note that these are shared as images to make them easier to download). It seems unlikely that we saw another "Intense Raffles" type in either of these, but there was some promise shown in both races, particularly by the horses who finished 2nd and I thought that the form of both races were worth following in the future.
