Betfair Official Blog

Irish racing preview: the best betting tips from Thurles and Dundalk

Click here to view market

Wayne Bailey looks at the forthcoming action from two of Ireland's top tracks...

I'm reliably informed that the word Paramnesia, which comes from the Greek word para (parallel), means 'the experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously'.

When going through the declarations for this week's Irish racing, I felt a profound sense of Paramnesia, or as it's more commonly known: Déjà vu.

Last Thursday, Thurles hosted a decent national hunt card, where I highlighted the Willie Mullins horses that should be considered. Friday saw the return of the all-weather racing at Dundalk, to which I stated: "it's always worth noting Ger Lyons' horses for win and place value."

Well, one week on, and what have we got?

A decent National Hunt card at Thurles today, and an all-weather card at Dundalk tomorrow!

At the risk of sounding boring, I'm going to run with the same theme as last week, and once again highlight the record of trainers Willie Mullins and Ger Lyons at Thurles and Dundalk respectively.

Mullins didn't exactly hit the jackpot last week, but came close with four horses placed out of six. The next day at Dundalk, Ger Lyons paid the bills with a 9-1 winner (easily available at [12.5] on betfair), and two horses placed at nice prices (out of a total of five runners).

So what's in store this week? Well, hopefully more of the same...

Thursday

Our Ben gets the ball rolling at Thurles in the 13:05 Glen Chase, and the current price of around [2.4] seems fair. Mullins' eight-year-old was slightly disappointing when beaten into third by Forget The Past last time out, but conditions are in his favour today. The distance is three miles, so it may be worth utilising Betfair's new in-running place betting facility on this one. I intend on leaving an order just after the off at the [2.2] mark and hope it gets matched within the first mile. The obvious threat is Noel Meade's course and distance winner Afistfullofdollars. Also, Kerryhead Windfarm will be waiting to capitalise should someone make a mistake.

Sonnium runs for Mullins at 14:10, and at first glance, this horse is unexposed. Don't forget however, that the basic racecard for Thurles only displays National Hunt form, and therefore fails to display the fact that Sonnium won last time out in a flat race at Sligo. There's no guarantee that flat form will transfer to hurdles, but the big field should at least ensure some value. I think I'm going to take a leaf out of Nick Shiambouros book and do a win/place bet for this.
Uncle Junior faces a stiffer task for Mullins in the Rock of Cashel Hurdle (15:15), but he's been improving lately and should find himself in contention. A price of [3.5] to [4.0] would be about right on this one.

Friday

As noted numerous times on this site, Ger Lyons has a fantastic record on the new all-weather track at Dundalk. In fact, blindly backing every one of his horses here shows a profit of £250.33 to £100 stakes. His horses aged four or more have notably excelled, and show a 26 per cent strike rate. I'm not going to highlight any horses in particular, but again, I just want to note the excellent win and place value in his horses at Dundalk (that the market has thus failed to adjust to). Lyons has five horses entered, and all should be given serious consideration for win and place bets.

Saturday

Last week, I discussed the fact that almost every Irishman you meet seems to have a tip for a 'good thing' that's sure to win. I stopped following such tips, but I suppose it's worth giving one that I received a mention, if only for some fun!

The aforementioned Willie Mullins sends Snowy Morning to Newbury for the Hennessey Cognac Gold Cup, and my text message tells me that he's going to take this with ease! My own judgement tells me that Denman will be hard to beat, but Snowy Morning has the added benefit of Tony McCoy on board, which is always a bonus.

Advice? He has a good chance, but proceed with caution!