The Punter
Michael Verney and Wayne Bailey mark your card for all the weekend’s racing
THEIR battle for the Irish trainers’ championship has really caught the public’s imagination again this season but the dominance of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott has also scared away the opposition for tomorrow’s Fairyhouse feature.
With Henry de Bromhead taking out Petit Mouchoir and Noel Meade scratching Snow Falcon, the leading pair are the only two represented in the field of nine for the Grade One Ryanair Gold Cup Novice Chase (4.30) but it is still a thoroughly intriguing contest.
The top four in the market are separated by just 3lbs on official ratings with Elliott’s impressive JLT Novices’ Chase winner Shattered Love heading the betting closely followed by stablemate and Brown Plate victor The Storyteller.
This stiff test comes just two-anda-half weeks since the pair came through gruelling conditions at the Cheltenham Festival and at a shade of odds against, there’s absolutely no value in Elliott’s mare in a competitive heat, while The Storyteller is unproven in Grade One company.
It can be easy to get clouded by performances at the Cotswolds but perspective is needed and while both hold leading claims, it must be noted that The Storyteller was seven lengths behind the Mullins pair of Al Boum Photo and Invitation Only at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival before winning a Grade Three Cheltenham handicap.
Al Boum Photo is remembered as the horse that Ruby Walsh suffered another horrible injury aboard when falling two out in the RSA Chase but it’s forgotten that he was running a decent race when chasing home Presenting Percy and Monalee before coming to grief at the second last.
David Mullins’ mount is respected but two falls in his last three runs doesn’t inspire confidence and the one of real interest is Invitation
Only – the choice of stable jockey Paul Townend – which was in the midst of mounting an attack when shuddering to a halt at the fourth last in the JLT. All momentum was lost when slipping badly on landing before quickly being pulled up but it does mean he comes here a tad fresher than his chief rivals and if the Graham Wylie-owned sevenyear-old can put in a clear round, he is the sensible alternative at around 5/1 to spoil the Elliott party.
The Closutton maestro trails Elliott by just over €500,000 in the title race and he can claw back more of his deficit through the brilliant
Laurina in the Grade One Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle (2.50).
Four of the last five renewals have been won by favourites and after her 18-length Cheltenham romp – where she barely broke sweat
– it would be a seismic shock were Townend not to guide the odds-on shot to her fourth successive victory.
The opposition are playing for places behind her but another horse which was hampered at Cheltenham was High School Days, which had yet to be produced three out when Dawn Shadow’s fall three out completely negated her progress, and she can chase Laurina home.
The Grade Two Underwriting Exchange Novice Hurdle (3.20) is again dominated by Mullins (three) and Elliott (two) but with testing conditions at Cheltenham likely to have left their mark on top novices like Elliott’s Blow By Blow and Mullins’ Duc Des Genievres, it may pay to side with freshness in going likely to be soft to heavy.
That will be no problem to course and distance winner Jetz – last seen when a head second behind Tower Bridge in a Grade One at Leopardstown – and Jessica Harrington’s six-year-old ticks a lot of boxes and Robbie Power can help take the spoils away from the ‘Big Two’.
Tomorrow is expected to be a bonanza for Mullins and Patricks
Park is the one to watch in the BoyleSports Novice Handicap Chase (3.55). Townend’s mount was entered in a host of handicap chases at Cheltenham but his rating of 133 scuppered any chance of a run but this €50,000 event is an ideal opportunity for compensation with an exciting chasing prospect.
Last month’s win in a valuable Leopardstown handicap – where the re-opposing Bel Ami De Sivola disappointed back in eighth – marked him out as one to follow
and he looks a step ahead of the handicapper, although his main challenge may come from stablemates Blazer and Bon Papa.
The mother and daughter combination of Jessica and Kate Harrington claimed the concluding Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper (5.05) two years ago with Forge Meadow and they can do likewise again with Sizing Pottsie.
Well thought of by the Moone handler, the four-year-old kept on well to score on debut at Leopardstown earlier this month and with more progress to come, he can take this lucrative €100,000 contest.
Most attention on these shores will on National Hunt events this weekend but Cork provides a change of pace today with a decent Flat card, and last week’s Irish Lincolnshire winner On The Go Again can take the featured handicap (3.20). Meath trainer Michael Mulvany and jockey Gary Carroll look to defy an 8lbs hike but the progressive five-year-old can rise to the task for a quick-fire double.