TRAMORE THE MERRIER FOR BIG TWO?
Mullins and Elliott ready to strike at Festival
IRISH RACING
Mullins looks to have good prospects of a double and he can strike first with Karl Der Grosse in the opening maiden hurdle.
This import showed promise on his only jumping outing in France when he was third at Vichy 11 months ago.
He hasn’t run since then, but that is not a concern and it is very noteworthy that Ruby Walsh rides him in preference to stablemate Sweet Flight.
That one looked quite a reasonable prospect when he made a winning start to his career in a Wexford bumper two months ago.
The Mullins-trained Getareason cannot be opposed in the second of the maiden hurdles on the card.
This gelding was a very useful sort in bumpers last season when his form included a placing in a good winners bumper at the Punchestown Festival.
Getareason got his hurdling career off to a bright start when he chased home City Island in a maiden at Galway earlier this month.
That looked quite a decent contest for this time of year and it will be a huge surprise if the champion trainer’s representative meets with defeat.
Meanwhile, Elliott should strike with Mill Quest, who has already served him very well this summer. This much-improved mare has notched up three wins over hurdles in the last couple of months.
Her latest success came at Downpatrick last weekend, when she readily shrugged aside top weight to win a mares handicap hurdle.
She now reverts to fences and takes her chance off a rating which is much lower than the one she holds over hurdles.
Mill Quest is open to considerable improvement in this sphere and it is hard to look past her.
In the mares’ beginners chase a chance is taken on the John Kiely-trained Conduct Yourself.
She was having her first run since November when she was sixth on the Flat at this track on Thursday evening. As that was her first run for quite some time she should now do much better and she has previous chasing experience to aid her cause.
Her efforts over fences include a second to the top class Shattered Love at Fairyhouse last October and a similar effort here would surely be good enough.
In the handicap hurdle, Wild Desire can add to the 20/1 success she recorded at Gowran in June.
She has since met with two defeats, but she has run creditably on both of those outings which would suggest that another victory can come her way.
In the bumper, Backsheesh has run to a solid level on her three outings so far and she looks good enough to win a race of this standard.