Jester Could Have The Last Laugh At Navan

Cresswell Breeze could only manage fifth earlier, miles behind the front two but only 5L off third. It was a decent run but, to be honest, I thought she had a winning chance. She jumped big and bold early on, but the alarm bells were ringing about a mile from home when she lost her position and Noonan gave her a couple of smacks with the whip.

Cresswell Breeze ran well but only managed 5th.

I thought she actually kept on pretty well, and jumping the last I was hoping she would stay on past a couple for third. In my opinion, it wasn’t a lack of stamina that beat her, she just lacked a bit of toe on the drying ground. I think she could go close on slightly softer ground over a similar, or slightly shorter trip, and she is not one to lose faith in just yet.

It was hard to find the motivation to look at Sunday’s cards  after Cresswell’s run, especially as I had a 12/1 winner going on to her for a very tasty e/w double. However, Court Jester went into my tracker after a nice run at Down Royal on his seasonal comeback when 6th, and I think he could be set for a big run off bottom weight, returned to the scene of his last win.

This 11yo son of Pushkin is lightly raced for his age, and he has managed two 16f handicap hurdle wins from 25 starts. It is, admittedly, not a great strike rate but his trainer, Sammy Wilson, would likely not have persisted with him unless he thought he had another race in him. He has been dropped to a mark of 84 on Sunday, 9lb below the mark off which he won here 3 years ago.

Useful claimer Shane Crimin takes off an additional 5lb, so effectively Court Jester is a stone below his last winning rating. He has run well on two of his last three starts, so some ability certainly remains, and he will love the testing conditions (both wins on heavy). He can be backed at odds of 25/1 and, at that sort of price, he has to be worthy of a couple of quid each way.

STEVOS’ SELECTION: 16.40 NAVAN-COURT JESTER E/W 25/1