West Is Awake (left)© Photo Healy Racing
Owner/trainer Eddie Cawley contests the E40,000 Brown Lad Handicap Hurdle at Naas today with bottom weight West Is Awake which he is hoping can compete despite being 3lb out of the handicap in the 19-runner race.
A dual handicap hurdle winner, the seven-year-old was a course-and-distance winner in March 2022 and while he disappointed on a recent Galway run, had previously won at Fairyhouse on October 2.
Sean O'Keeffe rides West Is Awake and Cawley reports "unfortunately, he is a few pounds out of the handicap as Henry De Bromhead's horse (Summerville Boy) in at the very top and is rated 144 and we are only 115.
"We decided we would take our chance because he is in great form and I cannot find anything else for him. There is good prize money and it is worth a go.
"We ran him in Galway and he absolutely hated the track, but he has won around 2m4f in Naas and I think he will run well there provided it is not too heavy. He is not a horse that would want heavy ground."
Quotes from Michael Graham
