WILL ‘BATT’ PLAY BALL AGAIN? Shamrock follows apprentice star Ben Curtis at Limerick tonight, including his bid for back-to-back wins on the track with front-runner Mrs Batt. It’s a thriller for bet-and-lay Betdaq backers.
CLASSY TWO-YEAR-OLDS AT LIMERICK: He rates juvenile runners for John Oxx and Kevin Prendergast in the first two races at Limerick as potentially classy.
Mr Hundred Percent! John Nicholson, who brought Mrs Batt from Thurles as his only runner at Limerick in five years – and won with her from the front – is after repeating the trick tonight.
Mrs Batt (8.20) is a standing dish at Tipperary and was a good second last time on her fourth run there in less than a year. Joint apprentice champion Ben Curtis renews the partnership.
Curtis tries to reduce some of the pain inflicted by the handicapper on last year’s improver Headford Lady (6.50). She has to overcome a stall-14 draw but is back to her winning trip and is down in grade.
Brown Butterfly won at Naas on Monday, blinkered for the first time; but there’s no telling whether they’ll work again. If you remember I made a note of Glamorous after her first run for Jessica Harrington and can get 8.0 on Betdaq this morning.
Kevin Prendergast (La Collina) and Dermot Weld (Mahaazen) have brought out decent two-year-old fillies to win the opener (5.15) in recent years: with Kevin currently showing three winners from eight runners, I shall back La Collina with a saver on the Weld.
Even bigger fish may be frying in the other juvenile encounter for colts and geldings (5.50), with John Oxx no doubt looking forward to seeing the son of a Sinndar mare, Afraz, and David Wachman introducing a half-brother to a Queen Mary winner in Alkazim.
The question is whether Aidan O’Brien’s Prophesy has the edge on experience but he certainly doesn’t have the edge on breeding.
SHAMROCK’S BETS
NAP: Mrs Batt (8.20 Limerick)
NEXT BEST: Glamorous (6.50 Limerick)
WINS AND SAVERS: La Collina and Mahaazen (5.15 Limerick), Afraz and Prohesy (5.50 Limerick)
OUTSIDER: Headford Lady (6.50 Limerick)
DAQ TRIO: La Collina (5.15 Limerick) Glamorous (6.50 Limerick), Mrs Batt (8.20 Limerick)
