1 pt win Oscara Dara, 6.40 Punchestown (2/1 Coral)
The groundstaff at Punchestown have done wonders to get this
meeting on today and we’ve been rewarded with a 5 race card that genuinely puts
quality over quantity – The Arkle third meeting the RSA second today in the
opening race is an example of this – and the 2 mile novice hurdle that precedes
the closing race is another example of this.
Based purely on the
ground, the obvious pick would have been Willie Mullins’s Terminal, but he
offered little off the bridle when third behind Gaileo’s Choice at Fairyhouse
last time – something underlined by the fact that he was beaten into second by
Becauseicouldntsee, who was prepping for the Grand National at the time – and Oscara
Dara’s fourth to stablemates Darlan and Captain Conan at Aintree is the best
form by some way here.
He doesn’t have form on a testing surface but he was second
to the useful Mono Man on soft at Ascot on his second start last season and won
on slow ground at Sandown, and if today’s ground was to be good then he’d be a
much shorter price than he is today, and as the better of the two horses, if he
can stay in the running until the home turn, then he has a first rate chance
here.
Malt Master is a big price for a horse of his ability at
15/2 but he looks inferior to his stablemate without taking the ground into
consideration, while this is his first run for 153 days since winning at Newcastle
in November. Captain Dancer is an interesting horse based on the booking of
Davy Ruseell (Charles Byrnes runs two here and he’s got the vote of the Irish
Champion elect) although the ground is a worry for him, while Tango Banbou
appealed at the prices for the Mullins Yard although he might be an in running
play.
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