Sunday 22 November
IRELAND'S EYE
The main meeting in England today sees 2 races over the National course at Aintree while there are meetings North and South of the border at Towcester and Musselburgh. In addition to a Graded novice hurdle Navan stages one its main races of the season in the Troytown hc chase in Ireland. Willie Mullins can add another big chase success to his recent haul in the Navan feature while Nigel Twiston Davies could have a 1-2 in an Aintree chase over the Grand National fences.
We were on the ball in two of our selected races yesterday when Possol (9/4 morn-11/8) beat our savers Arkose (15/2-7/1) and South Leinster (10/1) in the opener at Ascot and we followed up with Bennythejets (7/2-3/1) at Huntingdon. However our nap Burton Port (4-10/3) ‘caught a tartar’ in a competitive handicap at Haydock while Peddlers Cross (3-11/4) proved an easy winner for us in our supplementary service and Planet Of Sound (9/2 morn—10/3) proved no match for Diamond Harry whilst Karabak (3-9/4) met a similar fate against the impressive Zaynar.
The Grade 2 hurdle at 2m 4f at Navan at 12-55 saw an impressive winner in Pandorama last year and though it is debatable if there is a winner of that quality lurking in todays line up it still looks a decent contest for the money. Although the Edward O’Grady trained Judge Roy Bean has finally delivered after failed narrowly to some useful sorts over flights initially with a couple of emphatic wins in a 2 mile handicap and Grade 3 event on testing ground at Galway and over this course last time the Andrew McNamara ridden 6yo may struggle to give 3lbs to a few progressive sorts. The one that makes most appeal is the Willie Mullins trained For The Staff – a heavy ground Sligo bumper winner who has prospered since upped in trip and the 5yo has had little difficulty in landing odds on favouritism in a Cork maiden over this trip and followed up by taking a Wexford 3m hurdle at similar odds. Though this represents the gelding toughest task to date the Ruby Walsh ridden hurdler will appreciate the ground and a test of stamina and he can beat Judge Roy Bean while the former decent point winner Quietly Fancied could prove a big danger as the Oliver McKiernan trained 5yo ran out an easy winner of a competitive looking Thurles maiden hurdle over 2m 2f on what was effectively his Park debut.
The Nigel Twiston Davies yard are no strangers to success at Aintree over the years and they have a strong hand in the 3m 2f hc chase there this afternoon at 1-45 over the Grand National fences. Although former pointer Irish Raptor boasts a good record at the track, including a win over fences the Timmy Murphy ridden gelding is just passed over in favour of his stable mate Hello Bud – winner of the Scottish National last year and the lightly raced 11yo may be more at home than Irish Raptor on the ground here and Paddy Brennan may gain some consolation for his defeat on board Imperial Commander in the ‘big one’ yesterday.
Willie Mullins has already eked out improvement in chasers from other yards with Cork National winner Our Monty the most recent but he could land another ‘big pot’ with the former Michael O’Brien trained Beroni in the feature event on the Navan card – the Troytown hc chase at 2-35 over 3 miles. This Paul Townend ridden 6yo did land a bumper and chase over the minimum trip on demanding ground for his former yard and though the son of Accordion has failed to add to his chase tally in the interim he has not been beaten that far by such fair sorts as Taipans Way and Blueberry Boy in handicaps over shorter trips he hinted that a step up in trip could prove beneficial when landing a ‘touch’ when coming from off the pace to land a Galway 2m 6f hc hurdle on soft about a month ago. Though there may be a doubt about the unexposed sort over this trip with Ruby Walsh getting the leg up on the stables other runner Polmar who has not shown much since a promising third in a decent Clonmel 2m 4f chase on debut for yard after scoring on heavy ground in a 2m 3f chase in his native France. Though some of the top weights appear to have their fair share of weight they cannot be dismissed lightly and the former hunter chaser Paddy Pub should make a bold bid for the Kieran Purcell/Davy Russell combination despite going up 8lbs for his most recent win over this trip at Limerick though on paper he could struggle to beat Munster National winner Treacle who had him over four lengths back in third on that occasion. Michael Cullens mare Bella Mana Mou thrives on these conditions and though she is 18lbs higher for a wide margin course and distance success on heavy in March the sweet jumping 7yo should make a bold bid from the front.
Nicky Richards team are in good nick at present and the veteran Native Coral looks to have prospects of landing the 2m 4f hc chase at Musselburgh at 3-10 today on his seasonal debut. A course winner over 3m 1f in 2008 on his only visit to this venue the 11yo invariably runs well when fresh the dual point and four time chase winner can go close here off top weight under 3lb claimer Fergal Davis over trip/ground which should suit. Nevertheless there are dangers towards the bottom of the handicap as another former dual point winner River Shanakill shaped well on her chase debut over a fortnight ago till tiring before the last over 3m 1f at Hexham and the Howard Johnson trained 6yo mare looks fairly treated off a mark of 107 under 5lb claimer Ryan Mania. However we will just give the Lucinda Russell trained Categorical the nod under another promising claimer in Cameron Gillies (3lbs) as the 6yo boasts a fine course record (1 win and four placings from 5 starts) and he will appreciate the drop back to this trip having landed a claiming chase over course and distance in 2008 and finishing a modest third over 3m at Haydock almost 4 weeks ago.
12-15 MUSSELBURGH – 2m mares maiden hurdle
A strong Irish raiding party descends on Scotland today and they can get off to the perfect start in the opener where the short priced lady Fowler trained ANNIE MAY looks a sound bet to open her hurdle account at the fourth time of asking following solid efforts behind such useful sorts as Printing Copper and Shirley Casper on good and soft over this trip and up to 2m 4f. Donald McCains once raced 4yo bumper runner up Just For Jean may prove the home teams best candidate to keep the prize at home.
2-20 – AINTREE 3m hc chase
SILLY WUPPLE exited early last week at Cheltenham but the Scudamore runner can gain compensation here in what looks a less competitive event under 5lb claimer James Kington.
2-45 TOWCESTER – 2m 5f mares novice hurdle
Ballydurn point winner Carolina Lady has shown promise on her first couple of starts for the Spearing team and should go close here but the 6yo needs to settle a little better and the narrow vote goes to bumper winner GENTLE CARIBOU from the Nick Gifford yard as the 5yo will be suited by this step up in distance on her second hurdle start.
ADVICE
BET 4pt win (nap) FOR THE STAFF 12-55 Navan
BET 2pt win (saver) QUIETLY FANCIED 12-55 Navan
BET 4pt win HELLO BUD 1-45 Aintree
BET 2pt win (saver) IRISH RAPTOR 1-45 Aintree
BET 4pt win BERONI 2-35 Navan
BET 2pt/1pt win (savers) PADDY PUB and BELLA MANA MOU 2-35 Navan
BET 3pt win CATEGORICAL 3-10 Musselburgh
BET 1pt win (savers) RIVER SHANAKILL and NATIVE CORAL 3-10 Musselburgh
We are now recording the daily profit and loss of Ireland's Eye to help readers gauge the current form of the service. We will provide the profit / loss on the previous day to a £1 level stake on each selection (eg: a 5 point bet = a £5 stake). In the interests of consistency the profit / loss will be recorded at SP prices, however BETDAQ users can reasonably expect to beat SP in the majority of races.
Friday's Return was: PROFIT 14.77 points
Comments