SHAMROCK Saturday thoughts: Wexford NAP plus Aidan O’Brien’s two-pronged attack on the Derby Trial Stakes at Lingfield.
The Lingfield Derby Trial has suffered in the past from small fields and short priced favourites but not a bit of it today. It looks wide open but whether the race is likely to produce a Derby runner, let alone winner, is another point entirely.
Lingfield is pretty much as close as it gets to replicating the contours of Epsom Downs so, in theory, it’s a good test of whether horses will act around the Derby course.
Aidan O’Brien saddles the top two on the card who are both prominent in the BETDAQ market as he bids to follow-up his win in the race last year with Nevis.
Not for the first time this week Joseph O’Brien might be on the ‘wrong’ one as I prefer the chances of Blue Hussar to Mekong River.
Blue Hussar made a winning debut at Leopardstown and whilst the bare form makes him impossible to judge in the context of this race, the profile of a lightly raced sort fits well – as we also saw this week with the lightly raced Orchestra (also partnered by Ryan Moore) wnning the Chester Vase.
Mekong River was unbeaten in four starts before finishing fourth in a Group 1 and whilst he is the form book pick I prefer Blue Hussar of the pair today.
The Dermot Weld stable are on fire at the moment and Backdrop gets a very easy chance to win her first race in the opener at Wexford.
I was expecting her to be around 1.5 on BETDAQ so was pleasantly surprised to see 1.71 and she rates a NAP at that price.
SHAMROCK’S BETS:
NAP: Backdrop (2.00 Wexford)
NEXT BEST: Blue Hussar (2.55 Lingfield)
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
