Navan (Saturday)
Navan stage their final jumps meeting of the season this afternoon and it is a low-key finale with the €22,000 two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase the feature race on the card.
Rachael Blackmore is setting a strong pace at the head of the conditional jockeys’ table but her main focus at the moment is on riding one more winner over fences to qualify her for a mount in next Saturday’s Aintree Grand National.
She partners veteran course winner Ad Idem here but the 13-year-old’s prospects don’t exactly jump off the page although he has been running well in less exacting company with a fourth behind Boher Call at Thurles in early March and previously runner-up to Aupcharlie here in a hunter chase.
It would be some feat though if Blackmore could qualify to ride something in the big one.
JP McManus has three of the 17 runners in this afternoon’s race with Thecraicisninety possibly the best of the trio.
Lisclogher Lad showed a bit of sparkle when running The Paparazzi Kid to a neck at Wexford last month but this is stronger.
Emcon’s Leopardstown second behind Mr Diablo was a solid effort and she might take all the beating.
Leopardstown hurdling winner Who’s That and Tony Martin’s long absent Guiding George might be her dangers.
Crest and Phil’s Magic are attractive in the beginners’ chase but I’d have no doubt that if Balbir Du Mathan finds his old form then he’d make mincemeat of these.
He ran in the Kim Muir at Cheltenham but raced too freely and was pulled up. He ran well here before Christmas in the race won by Oscar Knight, found every bit of trouble that was going and was eased right down in the straight.
Against these he could turn it into a procession.
Oscar Time shoulders top weight in the preceding two-mile-six-furlong handicap hurdle and looks quite attractive against Perfect Man, upped 16lb for his wins at Thurles and Punchestown, and Pause And Ponder, 7lb higher for a course and distance win in December.
Oscar Knight ran well enough behind Mick The Jiver here in a chase two weeks ago. He ran off 136 that day and can take advantage of a 20lb lower mark over hurdles.
The earlier two-mile handicap hurdle is a 80-109 affair but is offering the same prize money as Oscar Knight is racing for.
Broughtons Star, Hareth and Peculiar Genius make some appeal and the latter can come good again now that David Mullins renews the Tramore winning partnership.
The opening mares' maiden hurdle is a bad race and provides opportunities for the likes of Folly Dat, Our Valentina and Howluckycanwebe.
Rated 83 on the level, Maudlin Magdalen is an interesting seven-year-old newcomer to the jumping game and could outclass these.
McManus runs six in the other maiden hurdle and his 125-rated Coeur Joyeux is the best of them.
That said, he still has the Mullins-trained Kolumbus, a beaten favourite on his last two outings, and Elliott’s Soul Kaliber to worry about.
Neville Ring
2.15 Maudlin Magdalen
2.50 Coeur Joyeux
3.25 Peculiar Genius
4.00 Oscar Knight (Dbl)
4.35 Balbir Du Mathan (Nap)
5.10 Emcon
5.40 Crackerdancer
Next Best
2.15 Folly Dat
2.50 Kolumbus
3.25 Broughtons Star
4.00 Perfect Man
4.35 Crest
5.10 Who’s That
5.40 Redhotfillypeppers
Fairyhouse (Sunday)
No shortage of prize money at Fairyhouse tomorrow with three Grade Two races from the traditional Easter meeting moving to this earlier date.
The Rathbarry & Glenview Studs Novice Hurdle has a €45,000 prize and has attracted a good field with four Willie Mullins-trained candidates, headed by Bleu Berry, and a Gordon Elliott duo of Brelade (Jack Kennedy) and Chirico Vallis (Russell) with Bryan Cooper partnering Gigginstown’s impressive course winner Avenir D’Une Vie.
It’s a hard race to bet on and a grotesque puzzle to unearth a winner.
Brelade’s Cheltenham run in the Neptune saw him fade late when sixth behind Willoughby and Neon Wolf.
This won’t be such a stamina test and Brelade may prove too strong for Avenir D’Une Vie and Outspoken.
Paddy Power put up a market on the Easter Festival Novice Hurdle yesterday and they were making Invitation Only their favourite and most would concur with that.
But Runfordave ran a cracker at Cheltenham when third behind Champagne Classic and Verni in the Martin Pipe conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle.
He’s rated 142 now which puts him just on top of these. And you know what they say about handicap form – fillet as opposed to flank.
And then we have Michael O’Leary telling all and sundry that Champagne Classic is the worst horse he has. The Irish handicapper now has him on 145.
His jockey Bryan Cooper rides the Meade-trained, 134-rated Le Martalin which confuses the picture further.
I’d have Invitation Only over Runfordave but a result is more than just a possibility.
Mullins has won five of the last seven runnings of the Normans Grove Chase and goes single-handed here with Ballycasey against four Gigginstown runners, three of them trained by Elliott who also saddles veteran Realt Mor.
Best of the Elliott runners has to be Ball D’Arc, bidding for a four-timer but boasting only a 151 rating.
Ballycasey is a 160-rated performer currently and has an edge over his younger but improving rival.
Devils Bride is my third-best and Flemenstar is the one the paddock watchers will want to see.
Joseph O’Brien’s Wexford flop Theydon Park (Davy Russell) might be capable of bouncing back in the opener.
The 81-rated Flat performer A Shin Impala is interesting but you couldn’t get enthusiastic about anything else in this four-year-olf maiden hurdle.
Jessica Harrington’s Woodland Opera should cope with Pyromaniac in the beginners' chase and Nicole’s Milan can be preferred over Close Shave and Babanago in the novice handicap hurdle.
No bumper here, just a 80-95 handicap hurdle in which The Church Gate may beat Ted Bach and Simple Steps.
Neville Ring
1.50 Theydon Park
2.20 Ballycasey (Dbl)
2.55 Woodland Opera
3.30 Brelade (Nap)
4.05 Invitation Only
4.40 Nicole’s Milan
5.10 The Church Gate
Next Best
1.50 Ashin Impala
2.20 Ball D’Arc
2.55 Pyromaniac
3.30 Avenir D’Une Vie
4.05 Runfordave
4.40 Close Shave
5.10 Ted Bach
