Connacht Hotel QR Handicap Tips
Patrick Mullins – Lot of Joy, Scaramanga
Frank Hickey – Teed Up, Zinc White
*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.
Patrick Mullins – Lot of Joy / Scaramanga
The ones that look like I could ride are Lot of Joy or Scaramanga. Lot of Joy was fourth here last year but it was her first run for Team Mullins and we hadn’t had much time to see if there was any improvement in her. Our Flat horses that have had a winter’s hurdling under their belts, they usually show more improvement when switched back to the Flat.
With a rating of 96, she’s nearly at the top weight and this contest is a very hard race to carry more than 11 stone to victory.
That’s what might swing me towards Scaramanga as he’s rated at 89. He ran on the Flat for us twice last year but they were his first two runs for us.
He’s a different profile for this race as he was with Paul Nicholls, so he’s had the experience of being a National Hunt horse and winter racing. He probably doesn’t have that much scope to improve but he’s set to carry 7lbs less than Lot Of Joy and that makes him interesting.
I won’t decide until quite late. It’ll depend on how the final pieces of work go and I’ll probably wait and see what draw they get too. That’s a huge factor in a race like this.
I was drawn very wide last year in stall 21 so had to drop Echoes In Rain in behind the field but I wasn’t worried about that. Ideally, you don’t want to be bang on the paint in stall one or drawn too wide. Being drawn in the middle can be an advantage but it depends where the fancied horses are drawn as well.
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Frank Hickey – Teed Up, Zinc White
I’ve put in Lot of Joy as joint-favourite considering she ran so well in this contest last year when fourth to Echoes in Rain. She can potentially improve. She’s obviously ran well over hurdles too.
Galway is the be all and end all for Teed Up as the name suggests for trainer Emmet Mullins and owners, the Mee family who love winners at Galway. He was second in the 1m 4f November handicap behind Metier on testing ground at Doncaster, beaten by a length and a half.
He had a nice comeback run at Tramore when second behind Lord Erskine, he went up 3lbs for that to 88 but there’s scope for improvement. He ran over hurdles at the Galway Festival last year when finishing second first time out and then landing a big gamble when winning two days later.
UK raider Zinc White is another worth mentioning from the shrewd Ian Williams’ yard. He brought over Aqwaam to win a 1m 4f handicap last year and landed a bit of a touch in doing so. Zinc White won his two handicap starts for Ralph Beckett then went to Oliver Greenall but was pulled up at his hurdling debut at Ffos Las and was two years off the track then.
Has switched to Ian Williams and came back and won the Chester Vase, beating Novel Legend was 7lbs well in that day and he beat him easily enough. He ran at Ascot on good ground but he’s very ground dependent. He wants ground on the softer side of good. I’d be interested in him if he gets these conditions.
Connacht Hotel QR Handicap Tips
Patrick Mullins – Lot of Joy, Scaramanga
Frank Hickey – Teed Up, Zinc White
*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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