There’s been plenty of rain at Listowel and that is going to make life difficult for the runners and punters alike.
Aidan O’Brien’s Japan could be a short price in the opener (2.05pm) and caught the eye when seventh behind stablemate Sydney Opera House at the Curragh on his debut. With that run under his belt will should hard to beat.
The James Barrett-trained King of Leinster has some eye-catching form on a soft surface, but ran no race last time at the Curragh and that’s a worry.
However, his stable companion Time Queen was second here last year on heavy ground behind Lady Camelot and has been hitting the crossbar recently with a couple of runner-up efforts.
She’s taken to get her head in front this time in the 2.40pm.
Recent Roscommon winner Thiswaycadeux is going to be popular choice with punters, but this is a different on heavy ground. I like the Dermot Weld-trained Mayadeen though in the 3.15pm. He was second to Thiswaycadeux at Roscommon and has heavy ground form when runner-up on his debut last season.
Paul Nolan saddles Dia Del Sol who was a decent winner at Wexford over hurdles and could be a live one in this 1m 1f contest at 3.50pm. Ace Combat will provide stiff opposition after a good win at Roscommon on his Irish debut having arrived from France.
The Kerry National at 4.20pm is a no-holds-barred slugfest when the ground is this heavy. The quality horses in here are Gordon Elliott’s Jury Duty and Noel Meade’s Snow Falcon who were top-level novices last year and ran great races in the Galway Plate, where Snow Falcon was arguably very unlucky after being badly hampered.
JP McManus’ Blazer heads the market, but his jumping lets him down on occasions. However, his handicap mark gives him a good chance of winning this. I really like Oscar Knight at the prices as he will handle the conditions and his trainer, Tom Mullins (above), is very shrewd. He gets the each-way nod in this at a double-digit price.
It could be a good day for JP McManus and I like his Air Supremacy to turn over Easy Game in the novice hurdle at 4.55pm.
Quick Grabim has been a very unlucky horse and should really not be a maiden at this stage. The 5.30pm at Listowel can change that.
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