Keatley Can Strike At The Curragh

Ballinrobe was a complete disaster from a punting perspective with not one of my selections hitting the frame, let alone winning. However, apart from doing my conkers I enjoyed the day and it is a racecourse that I highly recommend paying a visit to. The locals really support the track and it was packed to the rafters on Tuesday evening. I have been to other tracks in Ireland for midweek meetings and I have yet to see crowds like I witnessed at Ballinrobe on Tuesday night.

Adrian Keatley has his string in good nick.

The horse racing powers that be have decided to hold the Derby at The Curragh this weekend, despite the disaster that was the Guineas Festival. The course is in the midst of redevelopment and surely it would have made sense to run the race elsewhere this year with capacity limited to just over 6000. The HRI have stuck to their guns though, and the crowds will have to make do with marquees and mud.

One horse that won’t mind what the weather does this evening is Sahreej, a 4yo son of Zebedee who is trained by local handler Adrian Keatley. This fella loves to get his toe in and I can’t believe his price after a very encouraging run here on bad ground last time. He was staying on strongly at the finish of that 5f contest off a mark of 76 for Gary Carroll and on the evidence of that run the extra furlong tonight should be right up his street.

This horse has yet to win for Adrian Keatley, but he was a heavy ground winner off 83 for Charlie Hills at Newbury as a 2yo. He gets to race off a mark of 74 this evening and crack claimer Danny Sheehy takes off another 7lb so he is effectively racing off 9lb lower than last time when beaten just over 3L. Although the current ground description is yielding there is rain forecast so it could get softer, and at odds of 14/1 I think Sahreej will relish the underfoot conditions and he is a confident each way selection

STEVOS’ SELECTION: 18.45 CURRAGH-SAHREEJ E/W @ 14/1