Wednesday 10 March
IRELAND'S EYE
This weekend we will cast our eye over some of the value races at the Cheltenham Festival on the DAQ especially the more competitive handicaps and the more open contests.
Though we are unlikely to see to many stars in action today there are three fairly decent and interesting meetings at Catterick and Fontwell while there are some large fields in Ireland where Naas provides the jumping action. All weather enthusiasts are catered for at Lingfield in the afternoon and later in the day by Wolverhampton. We have high hopes for two former point winners in a Catterick handicap chase and a Fontwell maiden hurdle today while a badly handicapped mare can return to winning ways in a competitive Naas hurdle.
Jimmy Bond (9-13/2) kept us amongst the winners yesterday as the 11yo landed a Newcastle handicap chase with our saver El Maintenant (9/2) back in third. Also Helm (17/2) finished third in the Devon National and we also managed to get our lay of the day Opel De Lisle (5/2) over at Newcastle while in our back up service we tipped Miss Nightshade (15/8-6/4) who landed the opener at Exeter while our next best Lord Villez (9/4-15/8) also obliged in the first race at Newcastle.
Willie Mullins ex AQPS winner and 4yo Sweet My Lord should start at short odds under Ruby Walsh in the opener on the Naas card – a 2m maiden hurdle at 2-15 today but the 12f flat winner may be opposable at the forecast odds.
The one that fits the bill is the Tom Mullins trained Some Slam who ran out an impressive winner of a Listowel bumper on his debut at Listowel last September where he readily accounted for the subsequent bumper/hurdle winner Summit Meeting by a wide margin. Though the official ground description on that occasion was yielding to soft there is a strong suspicion that the going was a good deal better and this son of Orpen has only raced on soft or worse in the interim. However the Niall Madden ridden gelding shaped well on his hurdling debut over course and distance over a month ago when finishing a fair fourth to the more experienced Grey Soldier on heavy ground but with the likely hood of much better ground here the 5yo could topple the short priced favourite. Another to consider is the twice raced Rough Times who ran well on his bumper debut before failing to live up to that promise on hurdling bow on softer ground.
The Paul Nicholls bumper winner There’s No Panic looks likely to go off favourite to take the 2m 2 1/2f maiden hurdle at Fontwell today at 2-40 under Nick Scholfield but the 5yo has not as yet proved a natural over hurdles and we will look elsewhere for the value.
The one that gets our vote is the former John Hally trained For Non Stop – winner of a decent Horse & Jockey youngsters maiden point last year on heavy. The Charlie Mann trained 5yo has shaped well on all three starts for his new connections to date and followed up his Hereford bumper effort with a fair sixth to a useful prospect at Ffos Las before staying on to be beaten just over four lengths in an Exeter 2m 1f maiden hurdle over three weeks ago. With a slight step up in trip in his favour the Paul Moloney ridden son of Alderbrook can open his account here at the possible expense of another Irish point winner in Louis Pasteur who scored well in a modest Kinsale 4yo maiden at the end of last season (point that is) for trainer Pat Doyle. The Luso gelding could prove a danger if ready for his first start for the Nick Mitchell yard.
With five time chase winner Archie Boy possibly needing the run after a ‘break’ it could pay to concentrate on course specialist Show Blessed and Grade 3 hurdle winning mare Maca Rince in this 2m hurdle at Naas at 2-45. The first named boasts a 2 from 2 record over the course, including a course and distance success and in addition the Joanna Morgan trained 10yo has one once here on the flat and gone down narrowly on two other occasions on the flat – including much better ground. The David Casey ridden gelding should go close here but he could be vulnerable to the bottom weight Maca Rince here as the 6yo is in receipt of 12lbs – including the 3lb claim of Ian McCarthy. On official ratings the Jarlath Fahey trained mare who suffered at the hands of the handicapper for taking a Grade 3 hurdle at Fairyhouse as a 3yo and she now looks to have decent prospects of landing this prize and her first win for some 3 years. However she was not the most straight forward on occasions (tried to run out when unshipping pilot at last on one occasion) and though she has the edge from a handicap point of view here the narrow vote goes to the generally consistent Joanna Morgan trained runner.
I See A Star ran home an easy winner under trainer /rider combination of J D Moore when taking a Lisgoold point earlier last year and the lightly raced 7yo can score in his first handicap at Catterick today at 4-20 over 3m 1 1/2f. Though he made hard work of landing a modest hunter chase here over CD on his first start for the Howard Johnson yard under an inexperienced pilot he has just shown fair form in another couple of hunter events and faded out of contention when finishing a modest fourth behind the experienced Belem Ranger at Musselburgh last time on better ground. With Dennis O’Regan taking over the reins for the first time and running off a mark of 91 he can land this modest contest. The one that can provide the main danger is the Reveley trained Star Beat who only went down narrowly over course and distance on penultimate start and the 7yo is now tried in blinkers.
4-50 CATTERICK – 3m 1 1/2f hunter chase
An open contest with little past hunter chase form to work on but the vote goes to the unexposed 6yo RACING ACE who has been running well ‘between the flags’ of late and he can account for main danger Oh So Perky and the experienced Willywont He.
5-10 FONTWELL – 2m 2 1/2f bumper
The Paul Nicholls trained IRISH AIRMAN may not be one of the stable stars at Ditcheat but the 5yo shapes like a staying type and this trip may just provide the Harry Skelton ridden 5yo with his first win under Rules here where the penalised Dragon’s Roost and the former Andy Kennedy trained Irish pointer Current Climate can provide the main opposition.
ADVICE
BET 4pt win SOME SLAM 2-15 Naas
BET 1pt win (saver) ROUGH TIMES 2-15 Naas
BET 5pt win (nap) FOR NON STOP 2-40 Fontwell
BET 1pt win (saver) LOUIS PASTEUR 2-40 Fontwell
BET lay THERE’S NO PANIC to win 5pt 2-40 Fontwell
BET 4pt win SHOW BLESSES 2-45 Naas
BET 2pt win (saver) MACA RINCE 2-45 Naas
BET 5pt win I SEE A STAR 4-20 Catterick
BET 2pt win (saver) STAR BEAT 4-20 Catterick
BET 3pt win RACING ACE 4-50 Catterick
BET 3pt win (saver) OH SO PERKY 4-50 Catterick
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