ISLAND RAID

Coney’s the lone Irish entry for Betfair test

BARRY GERAGHTY will renew his association with Eddie Harty’s Coney Island in the Grade 1 Betfair Ascot Chase in Ascot tomorrow.

The 2016 Drinmore Chase winner will be the only Irish challenger in the field of seven.

He will be up against six British-trained rivals Cue Card, Frodon, Speredek, Top Notch, Traffic Fluide and Waiting Patiently. Elsewhere, the Willie Mullinstrained Vroum Vroum Mag, a surprise entry for Sunday’s Ladbrokes Ireland Boyne Hurdle, holds an alternative engagement in the listed Quevega Mares Hurdle at Punchestown on Wednesday.

She is one of six entries from the champion trainer’s Closutton base – the others are Augusta Kate, Karalee, Let’s Dance, Meri Devie and Pravalaguna.

Meanwhile, tonight, the frustrating and costly-to-follow

Port Lions should belatedly open his account in the At

The Races Maiden in

Dundalk.

The Kodiac colt, trained for

Godolphin by Michael Halford, has been a beaten favourite in his three starts on the polytrack, filling the runner-up berth on each occasion. But his time has come.

Placed in three of his four starts on turf last summer, Port Lions was beaten little more than five lengths when sixth to subsequent Group 1 winner Saxon Warrior in a Curragh maiden last August, when tried in blinkers for the first time. Port Lions failed to cope with Medal Of Honour on his polytrack debut in early December, his first run for more than three months.

And, in fairness to the colt, he has done little wrong in his two most recent outings, when failing to cope with Fozzy Stack’s potentially smart debutant Zibha and, last time, Joseph O’brien’s Ship Of Dreams. Tonight, Port Lions will tackle a mile for the first time on the polytrack. And Michael Halford has decided to try cheekpieces rather than blinkers.

Drawn four, I expect Pat Smullen, inset, to dictate the pace on the selection. And he should keep Max Velocity at bay at the business end.

CHALLENGER Coney Island