Nic Doggett provides an overview of the key things to note on Monday.
Three points of interest
Roscommon records put to the test
After a week in which Aidan O’Brien dominated the genre of Classic Trials, sons Joseph and Donnacha will be hoping to emulate their father at Roscommon on Monday with a selection of interesting newcomers in the Irish EBF Median Sires Series Maiden which opens the card at 3.55.
Donnacha’s Camden Fort is the second foal of Jersey Stakes winner/Irish 1,000 Guineas runner-up Chrysalism, while Summer Is Tomorrow has the more precocious pedigree of Joseph’s two, being a half-brother to five-time winning sprinter Albasheer, and his sales price more than quadrupled as a yearling.
While the once-raced pair of Harmani and Stonezilian are respected, especially the former who represents a Ger Lyons yard that is 4/12 with its juveniles at the track, there are some other interesting newcomers for trainers who also have strong Roscommon records.
Paddy Twomey is 6/9 from at the course (2/3 with his two-year-olds) so Salonglaenzade, whose dam was a German Listed winner at two, is respected, along with Stairiuil who represents the stable of Jim Bolger.
Bolger’s strike-rate at Roscommon is nothing to shout home about (7%) which makes it all the more remarkable that two of his four winners at the course in the last five seasons have come in this race.
Both were well found in the betting but also had the benefit of a run under their belts, whereas Stairiuil – a half-sister to two-year-old winners Hot Voice and Guns And Flowers – makes her debut here. She might need to be pretty smart to go in at the first time of asking, but you wouldn’t put it past the wily Bolger to have her primed to go on debut.
Strong renewal of An Riocht Chase
Over at Killarney where he has a profitable 31% strike-rate, Joseph’s attention will be firmly on the BoyleSports An Riocht Chase (6.38) where he saddles Prairie Dancer against the strong Willie Mullins (35% strike-rate) pair of Blood Destiny and Hercule Du Seuil.
The Ballydoyle domination of last week was reminiscent of Mullins’ recent smothering of the National Hunt season, and the better ground here should in particular suit Hercule Du Seuil who appears to have been saved for a summer campaign having not been seen since pulling up at Navan when last seen in December.
Prairie Dancer, in contrast, has been kept busy, this his fourth run in the same period but he needs to bounce back from a disappointing run at Thurles last time.
Weight-adjusted Timeform ratings for this Grade 3 chase have Blood Destiny 3 lb clear of last year’s winner Ash Tree Meadow whose rating of 169 is the average rating of winners in the last five years of the race. With the ground more in Ash Tree Meadow’s favour, however, the Gordon Elliott-trained runner is expected to bounce back from unseating at the Foinavon fence in last month’s Topham at Aintree and I can see him running well once again.
Amongst their interesting rivals are Jesse Evans and Senecia, both of whom drop in class here as they step back up in trip, while Je T’Ai Porte and American Mike both need to take their form up a notch if they are to get competitive in a strong-looking renewal of a race that has been won by the likes of Samcro (2021) and Saint Sam (2023) in recent years.
Ratings congestion at Catterick
On the subject of weight-adjusted Timeform ratings, handicaps don’t come much more competitive than the Racing Welfare Reminiscence Day Apprentice Handicap which gets Catterick’s seven-race card underway at 1.47.
Just 5 lb separates the 13 runners, with recent Ayr runner-up Kalganov the nominal top-rated being 1 lb ahead of Berkshire Phantom and Coconut Bay.
Coconut Bay is one of six C&D winners in the line-up though her solitary win pales into insignificance next to Obee Jo’s four (one of which was in this race in 2023). His trainer Tim Easterby currently has the ‘Hot Trainer’ flag thanks to a run of form that has seen five winners from his last 18 runners and a seasonal Run To Form ratio of 56.7%.
However, stall 14 will make life tough for Obee Jo as he returns to action for the first time since November. In contrast, Sir Garfield – another of the C&D winners’ club – is berthed in stall three which looks much more positive than his draw on the wing when dropped to six furlongs at Doncaster last time out.
Sir Garfield failed to get competitive from off the pace that day but should be ridden much more positively by promising apprentice Alex Jary here given the horse’s two wins have featured an in-play symbol (IPS) of 2.
A much better performance is anticipated now the horse is back to his last winning mark and has ideal conditions and rated just 2 lb below Kalganov, he looks my pick of the bets at the prices on another very competitive Monday.
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