Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
STEP ON THE GAS
Livelovelaugh to see off Meade’s runner
LIVELOVELAUGH must be strongly fancied to open his account over fences in today’s Mccarthy Insurance Group Beginners Chase in Cork.
On form, there is little between Paul Townend’s mount and Noel Meade’s runner Burgas. But the Willie Mullinstrained Livelovelaugh is expected to improve significantly on his chase debut run at Fairyhouse early last month – enough to give him the edge in this two-and-a-halfmile contest.
Twice a winner over hurdles, Livelovelaugh finished fourth to Al Boum Photo in a
Grade 2 novice event at Fairyhouse last spring. He also came third to another Mullins runner, Open Eagle, in a valuable handicap hurdle at the Punchestown Festival.
The selection made a lot of the running on his fencing bow at Fairyhouse before being overhauled late and finishing third behind The Storyteller and Sutton Place.
The runner-up went on to score at Down Royal on St Stephen’s Day, beating Burgas by three-quarters of a length, the same margin which separated Livelovelaugh and Sutton Manor (third) in the earlier Fairyhouse race.
But Burgas had the benefit of a previous run, over fences, while Livelovelaugh was making his seasonal and chasing bow. With improvement likely, the Mullins (inset) runner is expected to prevail today.
Earlier, Austin Leahy’s Wait Here, denied a hat-trick when beaten in a similar event at Limerick over Christmas, is a hopeful nap choice in the Mccarthy Insurance Group Rated Novice Hurdle which opens the card.
Winner of his maiden at Tramore and a weaker rated event in Limerick (beating Stole The Show readily), this five-year-old failed to cope with 112rated Monotype in Limerick, when the pair finished a long way clear of the remainder.
The son of Presenting travels well and looks capable of more improvement than his rivals. On that basis, he’s expected to return to winning form for J P Mcmanus and Mark Walsh, with Jessica Harrington’s mare Ale Ambrosio the obvious threat.
The featured Gerardine Mccarthy Memorial Handicap Hurdle looks wide open and might be dominated by horses reverting to hurdling after recent chase outings.
Josies Orders runs off a mark 29lb lower than the rating off which he finished third to Bless The Wings in a cross-country event in Cheltenham last time while Tout Est Permis comes into the race off a fall at Limerick.
But I’ll side with Westerner Point, unplaced behind Blaklion in the Beceher Chase at Aintree last time, but fancied here on the basis of his earlier second to Folsom Blue at Clonmel.