O’Toole could play Dublin Racing Festival role

O’Toole has been given a clean bill of health following his winning return at Ayr earlier this month, with the Dublin Racing Festival now a possible next port of call.

Stuart Crawford’s charge finished second to Kilcruit in a Punchestown Grade One bumper on just his second start and was also seen competing in graded company over fences before injury struck and he faced almost 700 days on the sidelines.

Making his return over hurdles, he served a reminder of his potential with a game victory, leaving his connections excited to continue the journey with their lightly-raced gelding.

“He’s come out of the race at Ayr well and I thought having been off the track so long, he will probably come on for the run,” said Crawford.

“We won’t rush him back and we will maybe look at something in early February to try to get him out again, he could be one for the Dublin Racing Festival, but there is nothing set in stone at this stage.

“It’s great to have him back and it was only his eighth ever start the other day, so he is still a bit of an unknown really.

“In his eight starts, he has won four and has competed against some graded horses as well, so you’d be hoping if we get a clear run with him, we could have a bit of fun with him in a couple of nice races.”

Owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, O’Toole was seen as a chaser on the rise prior to his enforced absence from the track, winning in good style at Newcastle before chasing home Nicky Henderson’s City Chief in the Towton Novices’ Chase.

Although he returned over timber and showed a good aptitude for the smaller obstacles, Crawford has conceded he would like to see the nine-year-old return to fences sometime soon.

“There is the option for him to climb back through the ranks and I think it is over fences you really want to see him going,” said Crawford.

“But things are fluid and I suppose we will just go where we think we can try to keep winning with him.

“I would say if we made a start back over fences, we would probably try to stick to them. Whether we give him another run over hurdles just to get the cobwebs really blown away, we will have to see.

“He did nothing wrong the other day, he jumped well and travelled well and he saw it out well. Hopefully, if we can get a nice run with him over the next two or three months, we can end up in a nice race at one of the festivals in the spring.”