Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Mccreery’s girl should be too good for the Rest
REVERTING TO FIVE FURLONGS SUITS FILLY
THE Willie Mccreery-trained Patuano has rock-solid claims in the five furlong Junefest Handicap at the Curragh today. Although racing from 4lb out of the handicap, this Choisir filly will be ridden by talented 7lb claimer Sean Davis and, with just 7-11 on her back, should go close in a competitive handicap. Placed in one of her three juvenile starts, in Dundalk, Patuano made a successful start to her three-year-old campaign when scoring in Cork last month, showing plenty of speed before beating Ice Cold In Alex. Raised 7lb for that win, she attempted to follow-up in Listowel last Sunday but, in a slowly-run six furlong contest, went down by three-quarters of a length to Orangey Red. Patuano probably travelled too keenly on that occasion. But that shouldn’t be a problem today, as she reverts to five furlongs. And I expect her to run a very big race. Among the obvious dangers is Fozzy Stack’s, inset, top-weight SON OF REST, easy winner of a Cork maiden in heavy ground before failing to cope with quick conditions in the Tetrarch (listed race) at Naas. This colt finished fourth to Churchill in the National Stakes in September but, with a rating of 103, must concede chunks of weight to his rivals, with Patuano set to receive 23lb plus her rider’s claim. Better known as a hurdler, the Joseph O’brientrained TIGRIS RIVER appeals in the two-mile Brady Burns Insurance Brokers Handicap. Although this six-year-old has triumphed only once on the level, in a Killarney maiden as a three-year-old, he has won three times over hurdles and ran a cracker to finish fifth off a mark of 135, in last year’s Guinness Galway Hurdle, won by Clondaw Warrior. Tigris River was having his first run since that day in Ballybrit when filling seventh spot behind St Stephen’s Green in a competitive handicap hurdle in Killarney last month. Expected to improve from that outing, Tigris River looks well enough treated off a mark of 83 to land a handicap of this type. And he gets a hopeful vote to beat MICRAS and HURRICANE SKY, which finished second and third respectively to well-handicapped, all-the-way winner Whiteout over this course and distance on Guineas weekend.