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A right royal two days of racing is on the cards in Ireland

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Wayne Bailey previews the Down Royal festival where Beef or Salmon is among the headliners...

King James II was a busy man.

He was the last Roman Catholic to reign over England, Scotland and Ireland. Between supremacy struggles, the English Bill of Rights, the Hanoverian succession and of course the Battle of the Boyne, he had a lot on his plate.

I won't go into history lessons here - there are plenty of websites out there for that - but significantly for racing fans, King James II did find time in his busy schedule to form a Royal Charter in 1865, creating The Down Royal Corporation of Horsebreeders, to encourage horseracing and breeding in County Down, situated in the north-east of Ireland. The king never lived to fully see what a successful impact his charter would to on to have on the Irish racing calendar, but he would have been rightly proud!

This weekend (Friday and Saturday) sees the renewal of Down Royal's famous two-day festival, the highlight being Saturday's Grade 1 James Nicholson Wine Merchant Chase (14:30).
This top race is a relatively new inception only dating back to 1999, but a quick read through some previous winners' names (Beef or Salmon, More Than A Stroll, Looks Like Trouble, Florida Pearl), and we begin to appreciate King James' charter even more.

This year, all eyes will once again be on course-specialist Beef or Salmon, who is attempting to win this contest for the third time, but there are a number of young pretenders just waiting to spoil the party for Michael Hourigan and Co.

Old 'Beefy' has become something of an enigma in Ireland in recent years. Every year, Irish punters watch him trounce his opposition on Irish soil, but he has never replicated that success when travelling to England. He cost the country a small fortune in recent Cheltenham festivals, but he's back in familiar territory here, and has made this race his own. He won it in 2004 - unfortunately the 2005 running was cancelled due to a bomb scare - but he came good again in 2006 when beating War of Attrition into second, and Justified into third. At the moment, the ground is not ideal, as noted by his trainer Michael Hourigan who said this week: "Beef Or Salmon is in good form, but I don't know who is going to ride him yet. I think the ground's quick, so we could do with a drop of rain."

Otherwise, he looks primed and ready for this. All going well, punters may once again be cheering Beef or Salmon into the winners' enclosure on Saturday afternoon.

Justified however, may have different plans. Dusty Sheehy is not expecting miracles from his eight-year-old, but is keeping upbeat, and it would certainly be foolish to rule him out.

"The ground is supposed to be good, perfect jumping ground at the moment, and there are a few light showers forecast so if they appear the ground will be no problem," he said.

Justified hasn't done much wrong, and impressed once again in early October when winning a grade two chase at Gowran park. He's certainly a very live threat at this stage.

It's notable that Paul Nicholls has three entries, chief among them being Taranis. This will be the first time that the six-year-old steps up to the three-mile distance, but Nicholls feels that it won't be a problem, saying: "Three miles is the ideal start for Taranis. He won the Ryanair Chase and then in the Melling Chase at Aintree everything suggested he was ready to step up to three miles now. We're very pleased with him and he's in good form. We've had five or six winners over the weekend but a lot of ours are needing a run. We're now at a point where a lot of them are ready to do themselves justice"

Other notable early declarations include Alexander Taipan, Baron De Feypo, Forget the Past, Hi Cloy and Cailin Alainn.

If the ground comes right for Beef or Salmon, he'll be very hard to beat. The course and distance are ideal, and he has the stamina and spirit to take this. Any mistakes however, Justified and Taranis are ready to pounce.

Its not all about one race, however, and there is plenty of top class action taking place over the two days. If you're having a bet, Down Royal has some interesting trends and statistics which may point the way to profit:

• Michael Hourigan trained horses have a 16 per cent strike rate here, but this is increased dramatically in chases. Backing all Hourigan trained horses in chases here to date produced seven wins from 20 races, and a profit of £115 to £100 stakes.

• MJP O'Brien trained horses have good success in both hurdles and chases, and are always worth noting. Backing O'Brien's horses here shows a 22 per cent strike rate and a profit of £157.40 to £100 stakes to date.

• E. Sheehy trained horses usually run well here, but it's especially worth noting his horses when they run in hurdles. Backing Sheehy trained horses in hurdle races here to date produced nine winners from 38 bets, and a profit of £317.50 to £100 stakes.

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