Shuffle The Deck shows plenty of promise in Naas triumph

Ted Walsh appears to have a very nice prospect on his hands given the way Shuffle The Deck won the Sign Up To GavinLynchRacing.com Maiden Hurdle at Naas.

A point-to-point winner, he had finished third behind two nice types on his hurdling debut at Punchestown in Butch Cassidy and Sermandzarak but appeared to have taken a good leap forward.

Sent off a 5-4 joint-favourite along with Willie Mullins’ new French recruit Karbau, Mark Walsh was content to take a lead into the second last on the JP McManus-owned four-year-old.

He jumped slower than Karbau there, giving the Mullins runner another chance, but in a matter of strides, Shuffle The Deck had the race won and pulled three and a quarter lengths clear of Eastern Legend, who stayed on for second.

The winner is now set to step up in class next month.

“He did it nicely. He stays and jumps,” said Ted Walsh.

“He looks like a horse that will make a nice chaser. His first run was a goodish run and he came on from it, it looks like he’s improved a bit from that.

“He is what he is, he stays going and he gallops. He’s only a four-year-old and with his pedigree, he should make a nice chaser. His half-brother Verdant Place won yesterday.

“Hopefully he goes on to be a nice horse, lots of horses win a maiden hurdle.”

He went on: “I’ve had a few nice novices over the years and I’d say he’s as good as we’ve had at this stage, but he has a long way to go.

“Somebody asked me there how good he was and I said ‘well he’s not Rince Ri’.

“He’s entered in the Lawlor’s at Naas and he’ll probably run there unless they (McManus) have something better.”

Paddy Power cut the winner to 33-1 from 40s for the Albert Bartlett in March.