Day Dream Boy could never land a blow earlier on at Fairyhouse and it looks as though old father time has caught up with Eddie Cawley's charge. Hurricane Ivan ran a decent race to chase home what looks a very well handicapped winner, and at least salvaged something for the day.
Tomorrow at Gowran sees one of Ireland's premier national hunt steeplechases with the Thyestes Handicap due to go off at 3.10. The ground is going to be hard work, and stamina will be a key requirement for the winner. It is a race that older horses have done well in (3 of the last 5 have been 10yo+) and Liam Burke's My Murphy looks to have the necessary credentials to run a big race.
This recently turned 10yo son of Presenting was my fancy for the Paddy Power back in December at Leopardstown after a lovely comeback run over an inadequate 20f at Navan. He ran no sort of race though, and as soon as I saw he was going to be held up I knew it wasn't going to be his day. He is best when racing prominently, just as he did when he chased home Djakadam in this race last year.
He has run well on both previous visits to Gowran and he has long been talked about as an Irish Grand National horse by handler Liam Burke. However, the ground is always a big question mark when it comes to targeting him at that prize, as he needs it bottomless to be seen to best effect. He gets to race off 139, the same mark as he had last year, and Robbie Power keeps the faith. He was almost a good 20L ahead of the 3rd home last year, Goonyella, and a repeat performance would see him in the shake up tomorrow. At odds of 20/1 he looks well worthy of an each way bet.
Across the water in England I also like the look of a horse in Wincanton for tricky trainer Sue Gardner. She has three runners there tomorrow, and though Rafafie makes some appeal in the 3.20 due to his ability to run well fresh, the one I like is Tea Time Fred, who goes in the opening handicap hurdle at 1.35.
This 7yo son of Kayf Tara has plenty of ability, as he showed in his runner up effort here last year off 94 (21.5f soft beaten a short head), before following up off 103 by 10L in a class 4 handicap at Chepstow (19.5f soft). He was stepped up in class on his final race of the season at Cheltenham (3m good) and again ran well, despite enduring a troubled passage, off his revised mark of 113.
He returned to action back in November with a below par effort at Chepstow, and he was heavily backed on his next run at Uttoxeter, sent off at 13/8. He ran no sort of race and was found to be lame afterwards, but the handicapper has left his mark alone at 110. I believe he has the potential to be better than that mark, and if he is 100% tomorrow he could be set for a big run. At odds of 16/1 he is worth an interest each way, but stakes should be kept to a minimum just in case he needs the run.
STEVOS' SELECTIONS: 3.10 GOWRAN- MY MURPHY 20/1 E/W
1.35 WINCANTON- TEA TIME FRED 16/1 E/W
Tipster that loves big prices. Racing/NFL/Soccer/Rugby Twitter: @davestevos Biggest Winners: Goliath 33/1 Rage Of Bamby 20/1 Party Rock 33/1 Don't Touch It 40/1 Burning Brightly 33/1 Back Before Dawn 25/1 Court Frontier 20/1 Bilbo Bagins 20/1 Pacha Du Polder 20/1 Champagne Classic 25/1 Whatareudoingtome 20/1 Talismanic 20/1 Tower Bridge 40/1 Kilfenora 25/1 Lalor 16/1 Paper Lantern 14/1 Examiner 20/1 Romanised 40/1 Masar 20/1 Accidental Agent 33/1 Harry The Viking 28/1 Dragon Houdini 50/1
Well done! I was in a deep hole following your selections but that's got me out of it in one fell swoop.
ReplyDeleteNice one! As I always advise though, stakes should be kept small with my selections so that 'hole' doesn't get too deep. Tipping up big priced horses means that losing runs are inevitable.
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