Thursday 28 January
IRELAND'S EYE
BETDAQ are the chief sponsors on both all weather cards at Southwell and Kempton today while there is an abundance of jumps action in England, Wales and Ireland with good meetings at Warwick, Ffos Las and Thurles respectively. The latter fixture will capture our main attention however and we have an attractively priced selection in a competitive mares chase while a two time hunter chaser is taken to make it a hat trick in the closing hunter chase.
Acapulco (9/10-4/5) finally opened his account over hurdles for us yesterday when beating our next best The Book Thief (9/2) while saver Mr Cracker (5/4-evens) beat our nap Ad Idem (7/2-5/2) in the opener also on the Navan card. Choice Magnanimity (9/4) and saver Prince Of Fire (8/11) were both mugged by Ruby Walsh on Un Hinged in the hurdle on the same card however while Pokfulham (11/2 was not disgraced in taking third in the opener at Musselburgh.
Ffos Las once again stages a fine card this afternoon and once again they have been rewarded by some runners from the Emerald Isle and one of these – Lady Roberta looks set to go off favourite to land the 2m 4f maiden hurdle at 2-30. Gordon Elliotts 108 rated hurdler and bumper scorer has failed to make the breakthrough to date over flights but she has run well in defeat when losing out to a progressive mare in Square Sphere over this trip at Clonmel over a year ago and more recently she made the very useful mare For Bill ‘pull out all the stops’ in a similar contest over that CD over five weeks ago. That last line of form entitles her to maximum respect here but she has yet to register from 9 attempts over hurdles and faces some interesting and potential improving sorts here. The one that gets our vote is the former Louis Archdeacon Dromahane point winner Chartreux who made all to land a Warwick bumper in gutsy fashion almost two months ago and the step up in trip will suit this unbeaten 5yo and he can make a winning hurdles debut here with ground to suit. One who could be worth a win/place saver is the former maiden Irish pointer and Bangor bumper winner Timeshift from the Mickey Hammond yard whose second placing to the subsequent hc hurdle winner Volador with subsequent winner Aldertune back in third in a Chepstow bumper reads well and he can improve for a below par hurdle debut effort some three months ago.
Alan Kings yard are really in hot form at present and Wayne Hutchinson can take advantage of ‘Choc’ Thorntons unfortunate absence by landing a competitive looking 2m 4 1/2f Class 3 novice chase at Warwick at 2-55 with the grey 7yo Bakbenscher. The dual bumper and hurdle winner is far from the finished article over fences to date but the son of Bob Back did score with a degree of ease in the finish when narrowly accounting for the lightly raced but useful Aux Le Bahnn at Wincanton over 2m 5f two months ago on his second chase start and he can make it a double here at the expense of Roman Conquest – winner of a bumper and hurdle (over 2m 4f) but a third fence casualty on his chase debut 10 days ago.
An intriguing Grade 3 chase for mares faces punters at Thurles at 3-55 and in a wide open affair we will be siding with a former point winner here to record her second chase win and her fourth start in this sphere. The mare in question is the Gervan Donnelly trained Maralin point scorer Inistioge who landed a maiden hurdle and a ‘touch’ here a year go over two miles on testing ground. In the meanwhile the daughter of Supreme Leader has improved in each of her three starts over fences and she followed up her gutsy win in a two mile and four novice with a fair third placing to one of todays opponents Cara Mara over the same trip at Fairyhouse and the Robert Power ridden mare is now 5lbs better off for about a four length defeat. Another to enter calculations strongly is the penalised ex point winner Royal Choice who made a fine impression on her chase debut when coming late to beat two of todays rivals Hello Kitty (now 6lbs better off for under 6L) and subsequent scorer Tally Em Up (identical terms) over 2m 1f at Cork on heavy ground almost seven weeks ago. The first named could pose the more dangerous of those two as Leonard Whitmores 9yo has since finished a fine fourth in a competitive Listed chase at Tramore behind The Fonze and boasts a decent record at the track and will be suited by soft ground. Though Rotorua has only the benefit of one outing over fences the 8yo shaped reasonably well there and her best hurdle form would give here prospects of springing a surprise here.
The closing 3m hunter chase at 4-25 at Thurles offers the Jimmy Mangan trained Rudi Trucker a decent chance to make it a hat trick in this grade and follow up his wins in stronger events at Gowran and Fairyhouse last year. A four time point winner the 8yo struck at the second time of asking in fine style at Affane over two months ago and he was still in front when falling about a mile from home in a Down Royal hunter chase at the end of last month won by the top class Agus A Vic. Though that was his second time to fall the son of Rudimentary is normally a sound leaper and 3lb claimer Damien Murphy can guide him to success here at the expense of snug easy Limerick 2m 6f hunter chase winner Tullintain who can confirm the placings here with the runner up and favourite on that occasion Proform Native who is now just 5lbs better off for an eight length defeat. It must be remembered that Roberty Tyners three time point winner was making his chase debut there and the 7yo did beat the subsequent four time track scorer Wolf Moon (rated 129 over hurdles) at the end of 2008 ‘between the flags’ though he did have the advantage in terms of experience on that occasion.
1-25 FFOS LAS – 2m maiden hurdle
Musselburgh bumper winner DEFINITE ALL STAR can score at the second pop over flights for the in form Gordon Elliott yard here following a decent sixth placing in a Leopardstown maiden over this trip (recent big hurdle winner Puyol less than seven lengths in advance in second) and the Jason Maguire ridden 6yo can beat the improving Rebel Dancer here.
2-50 THURLES – 2m hc hurdle
In an open looking handicap a narrow vote goes to one of Liam McAteers two runners the unexposed 5yo MAZARIS who shaped well enough against fair opposition over flights last year and he can spring a minor surprise at the expense of Phillip Rothwells Vinnies Friend who has held his form well since landing a ‘touch’ at Wexford last October over this trip.
ADVICE
BET 4pt win CHARTREUX 2-30 Warwick
BET 1pt win/1pt place (saver) TIMESHIFT 2-30 Warwick
BET lay LADY ROBERTA to win 6pt 2-30 Warwick
BET 4pt win BAKBENSCHER 2-55 Ffos Las
BET 1pt win (saver) ROMAN CONQUEST 2-55 Ffos Las
BET 4pt win (nap) INISTIOGE 3-55 Thurles
BET 1pt win (savers) HELLO KITTY and ROTORUA 3-55 Thurles
BET 4pt win RUDI TRUCKER 4-25 Thurles
BET 3pt win (saver) TULLINTAIN 4-25 Thurles
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.
Wednesday's Return was: LOSS 14.68 points
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