Jumps fare at Galway is in store on Tuesday, with a seven-race card that runs from 13:50 to 17:20.
Emmet Mullins’ Grade 1-winning novice chaser Feronily, who goes in the 15:35, is the star attraction, but there’s some other top prospects to note – including a Gordon Elliott-trained five-year-old who makes his hurdling debut following a solid bumper campaign.
13:50 – Pour Les Filles @ 5/6
The likes of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott have so much talent in their ranks these days that, inevitably, one or two go under the radar over the summer.
I’d say that certainly applies to Elliott’s Pour Les Filles, who established himself as a fair prospect after just two bumper runs last term.
The five-year-old was successful in a warm bumper at Leopardstown on Boxing Day – a sign in itself that the gelding is thought plenty of at Cullentra – before finishing a respectable 5/20, beaten only 4L, in a G2 National Hunt Flat Race at the Aintree Festival.
I must admit, I don’t think we’re looking at a future Cheltenham Festival winner, but he won’t need to be that to take this modest-looking maiden hurdle over an extended 2m.
Willie Mullins’ Olympic Man rates the main danger despite a fairly underwhelming start over obstacles, but I think it would have to go down as a major disappointment if the selection can’t get off the mark at the first attempt.
16:45 – The Little Yank @ 9/4
Just under three hours later is the Guinness Handicap Chase – a six-runner affair over 2m2½f.
This is a weak race comprised of mainly inconsistent types. On peak form, you could make a case for pretty much all of them, especially Born By The Sea and Take All, but I’m siding with John Patrick Ryan’s The Little Yank for he’s the most likely to run his race.
The eight-year-old son of Westerner, who might be the most aggressively-campaigned horse I’ve ever come across, mixes it up over hurdles and fences, but it’s chasing where he excels for me. Excluding falls, his form over the bigger stuff this year reads 322, recording an RPR of 130+ on all three occasions. That’s consistency you don’t get from his five rivals.
With the fantastic Danny Mullins booked, I’m hopeful of a bold bid.
