Hi all,
Inside today’s main piece I’m looking ahead to the Dublin Racing Festival, with a focus on some trainer trends.
Looking Ahead to the Weekend
There’s Grade 1 action on this side of the Irish Sea, with Sandown staging the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase on Saturday. Musselburgh also offers good prize money with the bet365 Scottish Cheltenham Trials meeting spread across Saturday and Sunday.
Sandown’s card is likely to be chase-only, with the hurdles course due for inspection at 8am on Thursday. If deemed unraceable, sadly the £100,000 Virgin Bet Heroes Handicap will be lost.
ITV Racing will show the best of the action from Sandown, Musselburgh and Leopardstown, which is good news for free-to-air viewers. That said, despite the solid domestic programme, all eyes will be firmly on Leopardstown.
Dublin Racing Festival
The Dublin Racing Festival is now the biggest and most exciting National Hunt meeting in Ireland. For me, it’s the best innovation in Irish racing in my lifetime and a true highlight of the winter jumps calendar. Punchestown has its own end-of-season feel, but nothing matches the depth and quality of these two days at Leopardstown.
The meeting features eight Grade 1 races, underlining its importance in its own right. Realistically though, it’s also a key stepping stone to Cheltenham, with trainers and punters alike looking for Festival clues.
There’s plenty of rain forecast this week, but Leopardstown is one of the quickest-draining tracks around, so racing should go ahead. Conditions, however, are likely to be much softer than usual. That could make this year’s DRF very different to recent renewals, when they’ve even had to water the chase track.
On the hurdles course in particular, it may pay to favour proven mud-lovers and be wary of short-priced horses whose best form came on the good ground at Leopardstown at Christmas.
Dublin Racing Festival – Trainer Angles
Here’s a list of trainers with two+ winners at the meeting.
Willie Mullins Time
The DRF is where the Willie Mullins season really ignites. His operation is fully geared towards the spring festivals, and it all starts here.
Since the DRF began, 120 races have been run, and Mullins has won 54 of them. He’s landed 60% of all Grade 1s, and last year he saddled seven winners, all in Grade 1 or Grade 2 contests.
Despite that dominance, he’s not an easy trainer to follow profitably. His handicap runners have struggled, with just four winners from 118 runners.
The most profitable angle has been his bumper runners, with all nine winners sharing similar profiles.
Keep an eye on whatever Jody Townend’s rides as she’s 3 winners from 9 runners +31, 5 places 56% when combining with the trainer.
Other Trainers Worth Noting
Joseph O’Brien’s eight DRF winners all ran at Leopardstown over Christmas.
This year, only Duke Silver, Talk The Talk and Solness among his DRF entries fit that profile.
Paul Nolan has done well with horses finishing first or second on their previous start, recording 3 winners from 11 runners +17.5, 7 places 64%.
None of his entries meet that exact criterion this time. However, he did enjoy a couple of winners at Doncaster on Saturday, suggesting his yard is in good order.
I’m looking forward to the weekend’s racing and heading into it in good form. If you’d like my previews and selections, they’re available for a one-off £9.99 here.
Wednesday Racing
The best of today’s action comes from the all-weather at Kempton and Dundalk.
In tomorrow’s column, I’ll take an early look at weekend action at Sandown and Musselburgh.
Kempton
8:30 – Paradias returned from an eight month break to finish a neck runner-up at Wolverhampton last month. Nudged up 1lb but did win this race last year from 1lb lower and a repeat success could be on the cards.
Good luck with your Wednesday bets.
John