4 WINNING RACES FROM 7…. INCLUDING 7/4 WINNING NAP: SHAMROCK started Punchestown 2013 with a flyer – 4 winning races from the 7 races previewed on the opening day and a 7/4 winning NAP, MOYLE PARK and 9/2 winning place bet in the opener with LORD HAWKFIELD. He again marks your Festival card for all races today.
It was a good start to the meeting but I’m conscious it’s a marathon not a sprint !! Still, with four winning races on the opening day there’s a spring in my step today.
Here’s how my opening day scorecard looked:
3.40 Lord Hawkfield (PLACE) 2nd 14/1
4.20 Champagne Fever (WIN) lost
4.55 Sitcom (WIN and PLACE) lost
5.30 Sprinter Sacre (WIN !) WON 1/9
6.05 Moyle Park (NAP) (WIN) WON 7/4
6.40 Harry Topper (WIN) Brought down
7.15 Some Hawk (WIN and PLACE) 3rd 9/1
Seven races again today, starting at 3.40:
3:40 Martinstown Opportunity Series Final Handicap Hurdle (95-123) (4yo+, 2m 4f, 27 runners)
This is a massive event for conditional and amateur jockeys, as they get the chance to ride a winner at one of the biggest meetings on the calendar. It’s close to double figure odds the field on BETDAQ so we can see how competitive it is.
Steer clear of older horses: only one over the age of seven has won in its nine-year history and 11 out of 12 places have been filled by those under eight since 2009.
The switch to the BETDAQ place market paid dividends for me on Tuesday with a 9/2 place about a 14/1 course SP and we’ll again play in this market for the opener.
HARTSIDE fits the stats in terms of age, he’s only a four-year-old and has had just three starts but should be suited by the step-up in trip and the Noel Meade trained runner certainly catches the eye. He was a lucky winner of his maiden here and then struggled at Gowran Park behind the classy Dogora and Dalasiri but in the trapiest of openers is worthy of consideration on his handicap debut.
SELECTION: Hartside (PLACE)
4:20 Louis Fitzgerald Hotel Hurdle (4yo, 2m, 9 runners)
This is the race that launched Solwhit’s career (he won another 25 races). Jessica Harrington’s runners are 112 in this over the last four years but Hurricane Ridge looks to have a lot on his plate.
The Willie Mullins trained pair are at the top of the market and of those two I prefer the ex-French runner VICONTE DU NOYER who I think will handle the ground well and is preferred to Navan winner Call Me Bubbles, the mount of Ruby today.
SELECTION: Viconte Du Noyer (WIN)
4:55 Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle (Grade 1) (4yo+, Class 1, 3m, 7 runners)
My colleague, DAQMAN,plays his nap card here with BALLYCASEY and it looks as though Ruby Walsh does too as he has switched back to riding him after partnering Inish Island to third in the Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival.
Ballycasey missed Cheltenham due to a minor muscle injury but Mullins reports him as being very well and thinks the ground, combined with him being a fresh horse are factors in his favour today. Who I am I to disagree with Messrs Mullins, Walsh and DAQMAN!
SELECTION: Ballycasey (WIN)
5:30 Bet Online With TheTote.com Punchestown Gold Cup (Grade 1) (5yo+, Class 1, 3m 1f, 8 runners)
After six winning favourites out of seven, the last three Gold Cups have gone to 14-1 and 20-1 shots (twice). Can punters get their money back today?
Honours are even (3-3) between England and Irish trainers in the last six seasons, and a better clue is that eight of the 10 winners in the last decade had run at the Cheltenham Festival.
It’s a clash of the silver and bronze medallists! Sir Des Champs and Long Run, the Gold Cup second and third, who don’t have Bobs Worth in the way this time.
I’m finding it hard to split these two but also don’t think Aintree Bowl winner FIRST LIEUTENANT is out of at and at over evens the place, in an eight runner field, think we have the old fashioned ‘bet to nothing here’.
SELECTION: First Lieutenant (WIN and PLACE)
6:05 Betdaq The Peoples Exchange Champion I.N.H. Flat Race (Grade 1) (4-7yo, Class 1, 2m, 12 runners)
I’m under pressure to find the winner of this one. The clue is in the title 😉
Willie Mullins and Noel Meade, with three each, have dominated this prize in six of the last nine seasons, with Mullins fielding winners we would come to know well, like Cousin Vinny and Champagne Fever.
BRIAR HILL is very strong in the sponsors market (how nice it is to say that !!) at around 2.57 to follow up his 25/1 success in the Cheltenham Champion Bumper. The only surprise that day (with hindsight of course) was his SP. A Willie Mullins trained, Ruby Walsh ridden horse who was unbeaten under rules allowed to start at TWENTY FIVE TO ONE !!
Mullins did us a good turn in the bumper yesterday with Moyle Park and I’ll again play the nap card in the bumper.
SELECTION: Briar Hill (NAP) (WIN)
6:40 Guinness Handicap Chase (Grade A) (5yo+, 2m 4f, 15 runners)
Punters get the cream off the top here: they’ve had a nice-priced winner between 9-2 and 9-1 for six years running.
So look just beyond the favourite for one weighted below 11st (five out of seven) and ridden by a top jock.
CALLTHEPOLICE fits the stats but it’s a race for low stakes with several question marks about recent performances of the leading contenders.
SELECTION: Callthepolice (WIN and PLACE)
7:15 Attheraces.com Flat Race (5-7yo, 2m 2f, 16 runners)
Plenty of horses with great potential here including the Nicky Henderson trained favourite Beat That who, although beaten at odds-on on debut at Kempton, still shaped well.
Another horse that could improve on his debut run is REAL STEEL, second at Fairyhouse, and it looked as though the run would bring him on a ton.
SELECTION: Real Steel (WIN)
SHAMROCK’S DAY TWO SELECTION SUMMARY
3.40 Hartside (PLACE)
4.20 Viconte Du Noyer (WIN)
4.55 Ballycasey (WIN)
5.30 First Lieutenant (WIN and PLACE)
6.05 Briar Hill (NAP) (WIN)
6.40 Callthepolice (WIN and PLACE)
7.15 Real Steel (WIN)
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