* All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
Derrinstown day in Leopardstown. Always a card to be savoured. The Derby Trial looks a decent renewal. Bolshoi Ballet was good in the Ballysax but he may need more to repel Mac Swiney here.
My hunch is he will find enough but I’ll probably just watch the race. I found the handicaps very tough to get a handle on so have concentrated on the stakes races and a couple of maidens. Heavy rain on Friday night may mean the ground rides soft.
14:15 Raise You
Raise You did me a good turn in a Curragh handicap last time out. He steps up in grade to contest the Amethyst Stakes at 2.15 pm. I think he can make the jump. This was a horse who looked a high class performer in the making as a three-year-old. He didn’t go on last season.
That was mainly because he refused to settle in his races. He was gelded over the winter. Based on that Curragh win the horse has lost those free going tendencies along with his balls. He relaxed so well in that race that his jockey was content to make the running.
He only won by a neck that day but was clearly value for much more. He ran all over the track. There looks to be plenty of pace in Sunday’s race. I think this horse will be less wayward if getting a lead. His stamina should prove an asset on the easy ground. His jockey can’t claim here. That’s not ideal.
While I’d prefer a fully fledged jockey in the plate, there are enough positives to overlook that. With a couple of promising three-year-olds in opposition, we should get a decent price. I fancy Raise You will have a very productive time at minor stakes level this season.
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14:45 My Generation
The Irish 1000 Guineas Trial at 2.45 pm is an intriguing race. Some promising maiden winners lock horns with five fillies who contested a similar race to this over seven furlongs last month. My Generation finished second last in that race.
I don’t think it’s fanciful to say she might have won given better luck in running. This filly was still a bit green in that race. She was slowly away, and had to be niggled along at various stages. She was just building up a head of steam when running into a wall of horses approaching the final furlong.
Her jockey was quick to accept the situation. Given how strongly My Generation had finished when winning over a mile on her penultimate start, I’m confident she would have gone close. The return to a mile looks a big positive. The ground is a worry but this filly has a willing attitude. I’ll take her to tough it out.
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15:45 Annerville
Annerville looks worthy of a bet in the fillies maiden at 3.45 pm. This filly was a huge eyecatcher on debut. She ran green for most of the race. When the penny eventually dropped she ran into the back of a couple of horses. She was only beaten a little over a length, and shaped like the best filly in that race.
The first four finished in a heap that day so the form is open to question. The other three fillies were at the head of the betting, mind you. That’s encouraging, as is the fact that the second ran reasonably well in a stakes race next time up.
Annerville will have entered plenty of notebooks that day. I do think she’ll be a backable price on Sunday though. Plenty of the opposition hail from powerful yards, and Annerville was 40/1 on debut. The layers tend to take on that type of horse on the back of one big effort. Hopefully Annerville can prove them wrong on this occasion.
17:15 The Mediterranean
I’m not sure what to make of the jockey bookings for the maiden that closes the card at 5.15 pm. Lord Of The Manor is the obvious Ballydoyle first string on paper but Ryan Moore is on The Mediterranean.
The betting will be interesting here. The Mediterranean is a notebook horse of mine. It’s hard to tell on the telly but he looked like a big scopey sort before his run in a backend Curragh maiden. He ran green in that race but was doing his best work in the final furlong.
A couple of smart sorts have emerged from that race. He’s quite speedily bred on the dam’s side but ran like a middle distance horse that day. I’ll hope he takes after his daddy, and improves for this step up in trip. If so, I think he’ll win.
Brendan’s Sunday best
14:15 Raise You
14:45 My Generation
15:45 Annerville
17:15 The Mediterranean
* All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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