The Betway ambassador picks out which horses she will be keeping an eye on at Fairyhouse, including one of Gordon Elliott’s in the feature race.
It sure is cold, isn’t it? The weather looks to have beaten most of the racing this weekend, but we’re hopeful that Fairyhouse goes ahead on Saturday.
It’s always a competitive card, this one. There’s some good prize money on offer. Ross sends a few horses who might have place claims, but at this point in the season you’re always up against Willie, Gordon and Henry, and the best of what they have.
Willie runs a mare for the first time called Kimi De Mai in the second race. She’s a half-sister to Bristol De Mai, so you’d think she’d want juice in the ground. She looks very versatile in how she can be ridden, as she’s won from the front and from coming from behind in France. She could really could be anything.
Gavin Cromwell also runs one in that race called Sixandahalf, who is interesting. She managed to win a bumper at Punchestown before getting lots of experience on the flat. She’ll be streetwise, that’s for sure. I wouldn’t be surprised if those two bucked out and kicked on, and the rest didn’t see where they went.
I’m keeping my eyes on Waittilitellyou and Attaboycharlie in the 3m Handicap Hurdle. Waittilitellyou has won off a break on a number of occasions, and Attaboycharlie might just appreciate this step up in trip. I don’t think any of them in the field have anything up their sleeves, they’re all pretty exposed at this stage in their careers, but conditions should suit those two horses and I do think they’ll both have a squeak.
The feature race is the Dan & Joan Moore Handicap Chase. As ever, there’s big prize money on offer and it’s a really competitive race. In the past few years, it’s paid to be ridden forward in this race and I can’t see what that trend should change this season.
Fils d’Oudairies looks to have been trained for this race and could be fairly treated off his mark of 136. His last three runs have all been in Grade 1 hurdles and he hasn’t been totally disgraced. He likes to go from the front, which is another positive and I think there is more to come from him over fences, despite being 10 years old.
Gavin Cromwell has three runners, and they all look to have live chances. I wouldn’t be surprised if any or all of them went close. Midnight Path sluiced up last time, Path d’Oroux is just a wonderful model of consistency and The King of Prs is steadily improving and is the type who could improve in a big field like this.
The Beginners Chase could be informative to work out the next best outside of the obvious few for Willie Mullins. Paul Townend has chosen Tullyhill, who ran well behind Majborough, who is likely their best novice chaser in the yard over two miles. He has that recent run under his belt, which might see him tough to beat. The obvious danger is his stablemate Mistergif, who was very evenly matched with Tullyhill over hurdles, but this is his seasonal debut so he might just find that Tullyhill’s recent run gives him that match fitness advance. Betway are boosting Tullyhill in this race, which could be costly!
I thought Verdant Place did it easily enough last time under Simon Torrens and can go in again. I don’t think he’s harshly treated off 116. That run was over 3m, and he drops back in trip to 2m5f here, which wouldn’t have been the obvious move, considering how strong he was at the line last time, but it’s not the deepest of races, so I’d stick with him to running a big race. He’ll possibly be ridden a touch handier this time around.
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