Irish Horseracing: The Fairyhouse Winter Festival

005 Irish Racing / Wayne Bailey / 27 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

More Cheltenham clues are on offer as Aran Concerto, Cousin Vinny, Tranquil Sea, Catch Me, Hardy Eustace and Brave Inca return to Grade One action in Ireland this weekend. Wayne Bailey has more...

The Fairyhouse Winter Festival offers cracking entertainment this weekend, with Sunday's card in particular shaping up very strongly. In fact, the three main races of the festival take place in succession on Sunday afternoon. With the Cheltenham build up already underway, the Irish will be hoping for some strong performances with Noel Meade- and Willie Mullins-trained horses coming in for particular close scrutiny. We've also a couple of old timers, and Hardy Eustace proved recently that there's a lot to be said for experience. Here's a look at Sunday's three main races...

1:05 Bar One Racing Royal Bond Novice Hurdle (Grade 1)
A fascinating contest, and the early markets just about put Willie Mullins' Hurricane Fly ahead of stable mate Cousin Vinny. I'd guess that more money will arrive for Cousin Vinny on the day, as punters are more familiar with the gelding due to his Cheltenham and Punchestown bumper double (the first horse to manage that feat). Hurricane Fly meanwhile, has campaigned in France, and has already clocked up four career wins to date from 13 races. Of course, Cousin Vinny has only run three times, but was always up to the task at hand on each time.

Essentially, we've to choose between experience and potential. I'm siding with potential, and believe that Cousin Vinny can live up to the hype this year. He seems reliable, and the word from connections is that he's working exceptionally well at home. That said, it would be foolish to rule out Noel Meade's horses too, a trainer that's in flying form at the minute. Fisher Bridge and Donnas Palm haven't done much wrong in recent times, and are sure to play a part - but Cousin Vinny should have enough in hand to keep them at bay.

1:40 - Bar One Racing Drinmore Novice Chase (Grade 1)
Yet another cracking race, and we've two Cheltenham hype horses fighting it out in the guise of Aran Concerto and Forpadydeplasterer. I get a cold shiver when I hear their names as these horses helped empty considerable sums from my Betfair account back in March. Both simply couldn't live up to the huge burden of expectation, but at least they've returned to winning ways since, and hope is not lost. Trafford Lad meanwhile, seems to improve with each race, and showed buckets of potential when winning the Florida Pearl Novice Chase at Punchestown two weeks ago. We've also got Tranquil Sea to consider, a horse that's sure to relish the conditions. After a shaky start to his career, O'Grady has the six-year-old spot on, and he'll be hard to beat if running to form. It's an extremely difficult race to call, and I'm going to chicken out somewhat by dutching Aran Concerto and Tranquil Sea at an admittedly short price overall at [1.68].

2:10 - Bar One Racing Hatton's Grace Hurdle (Grade 1)
One of my favourite horses of all time is the great Brave Inca, and it's difficult not to fall into the old trap of having a sentimental bet on Colm Murphy's ten-year-old here. We haven't seen the 2006 Champion Hurdle winner in quite some time due to injury and to be honest, we've no real clues as to how he'll perform. The stats are not in his favour either, with the past ten winners of this race all coming first last time out. It would be rude for me not to have a sneaky fun-sized bet, but in all honesty, we can't punt on Brave Inca with any confidence. Dual Champion Hurdle winner Hardy Eustace is a horse that continues to amaze and inspire, and I'll hold my hands up and admit that I dismissed his chances in the Maplewood Developments Hurdle; a race where he put the young pretenders Sizing Europe and Jered firmly in their place. At a price of nearly [4.0] on Betfair, he offers plenty of value. Meanwhile, Catch Me made a strong renewal of the Lismullen Hurdle look easy at Navan, and the conditions will be right up his street. As you can probably guess, I'm finding it difficult to make the call here, and once again, it's a choice between experience and potential. I'll have to think hard about this one before putting the cash down, so all thoughts and comments are more than welcome below!