Irish Performance of the Week - 10 February 2026
There was another decent week of action over in Ireland, headlined by the win of Crossfield Matt in the opening round of the Tote Gold Cup.
Crossfield Matt produces a strong performance in the Tote Gold Cup
The opening round of the Tote Gold Cup at Shelbourne last week saw a string of strong runs. Chief amongst them was the heat win of Crossfield Matt. He is very lightly raced for his age, not competing in a race as a puppy, so with only nine starts under his belt, there could be better still to come from him. Four of the other five heats were all won in 28.33 or quicker which is going to make for a hugely competitive competition.
It was the opening round of the Limerick Oaks where Beaming Zen and Magical Poppet both produced a winning time of 28.54. The former is a half-sister to Aero Sacundai from the same dam line as the likes of Singalong Sally and Glengar Bale. The latter had her litter sister (Magical Hope) also win a heat.
The youngest on the list this week is Up The Duffs who landed a Waterford A4 contest. It was comfortably the best run of her short career so far, with the promise of further improvement in the tank. She is a half-sister to David Fradgely's St Leger finalist Daring Moaner.
19.24 is a solid sprint effort at Galway for a pup having just his second race as Noelles Bebeto was last Friday night. The track was fractionally slow on the evening, stepping forward a little bit on his winning debut a week earlier. His dam is a litter sister to Hunt Cup and George Curtis and Ballyregan Bob runner-up Aayamza Dream and a half to Skywalker Canny and Secreto, so it would be a surprise if he doesn't improve for a step up in trip at a later date.
