Horse Racing Tips: Leopardstown and Limerick, Saturday

/ Wayne Bailey / 27 December 2008 / Leave a Comment

It's day two of the Leopardstown Christmas festival and punters have another fantastic day of graded action to look forward to at the Foxrock venue. We've also got action from Limerick, where Wayne Bailey has found some more decent betting opportunities...

Leopardstown

Leopardstown kicks off at 12:20 with a 3-Y-0 hurdle, but punters have a lot of guesswork if they want to get off to a good start - as half the field only have flat form and we've no real idea how each will handle the sticks. I'd expect El Presidente to run well if his hurdling debut win at Gowran is anything to go by, but I'm not keen on risking money here and will probably sit this one out in Fillies Bar instead!

Noel Meade is in hospital at the moment, but he must have been delighted to see Harchibald show some old spirit when winning yesterday's Christmas Hurdle at Kempton. The master of Tu Va can find success again today with Realt Dubh in the 12:50 maiden hurdle. He ran a reasonable race when coming second to a very promising sort Mikael D'Haguenet in his hurdling debut recently, and I'm expecting him to improve on that performance.

I've spoken before of Paul Nicholls' formidable record when sending horses to Ireland and Natal can keep up that form by raiding the Paddy Power Dial A Bet Chase at 1:20. He's a very versatile sort over both sticks and fences, and has already notched up ten career wins to date. Conditions may also suit Mansony, and last year's winner will definitely put up a strong challenge.

Hurricane Fly and Donnas Palm look set to lock horns once again in the Paddypower.com Future Champion Novice Hurdle at 1:55. I was on hand to witness the former come out on top at Fairyhouse, but I've received word that it's the latter that's been working exceptionally well at home and connections expect to find themselves in the winners' enclosure today.

The following handicap hurdle looks very tricky (if I had a euro for every time I've said that about an Irish handicap...) and a strong case could be made for five or six horses here. This looks about time to grab a beef roll and another pint of the black stuff, and I'll sit this one out instead.

One of the owners of Operation Houdini - fellow Betfair contributor Johnny Ward, rates the horse's chance in the Paddy Power Chase at 3:00, and the 12/1 each-way he recommended last week has now been trimmed by the bookies. He's still a reasonable price on Betfair and with four to be placed; I'm talking the safer option and backing him in that market only. Best of luck to Johnny and the lads, it looks like they've a pretty good horse on their hands!

In the bumper, I'll have a fun sized bet on West Of The Border, where Nina Carberry takes the reins for Noel Meade. I'm not big into bumper races so I won't get heavily involved, but he's expected to come on for his Navan debut run last season and a price of [3.0] would seem about fair.

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Limerick

Sanglote can get Limerick racegoers off to a good start in the opening maiden hurdle at 12:40. My own ratings have this horse at least six or seven pounds ahead of his rivals and Eoin Griffin has made a good choice in selecting this relatively weak race for his five-year-old.

At 1:10, Perce Rock can make up for some recent disappointing displays and should have a small bit in hand today. It' s fair to say that he hasn't been his old self of late, but likely favourite Kill Devil Hill also has some questions to answer, and while it should be close, I expect the former to come out on top here.

The feature race at Limerick is the Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase at 2:50, and Willie Mullins' Fred's Benefit should be able to take advantage of 10st 13lbs in a race where the handicapper looks to have caught up with topweight Conna Castle. He's a versatile sort who always gives you a run for your money and it shouldn't be long before he returns to winning ways. It's a competitive race however, so stakes will be kept to a minimum here.

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