Our resident tipster has analysed Thursday's racing and has five selections at Salisbury and Sligo...
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Showed some promise last season
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More suitable conditions than last time
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Sea Squared is overpriced at Salisbury
Coole Cherry is the odds-on favourite for this mares' maiden hurdle and if able to transfer the best of her bumper form to hurdles she would be tough to beat but there's not much of her and that creates a slight doubt over whether she's going to keep progressing as she goes jumping for the first time.
At a much bigger price, I think Stormie Outlook could run better than her price suggests on her second start over hurdles. She showed a fairly good level of ability on the flat and made a promising return to action after a 186-day break in that sphere when finishing a close fourth at Limerick.
Her attentions were switched to hurdling after that and she was well backed in the morning markets for her hurdling debut at Clonmel, eventually going off favourite. Her jumping lacked fluency at times but she was still travelling behind the leaders turning out of the back straight. She was nudged along into a close fourth early in the home straight but found little in the closing stages and faded to finish seventh.
Stormie Outlook had worn a tongue tie on a couple of occasions the flat and it's back on today having not been on for her hurdling debut so that could result in her seeing out the race stronger. Given that she's been off the track for three months since her last run, there's also the possibility that she might have had a wind op since Clonmel.
It may be that she just doesn't see out the trip over hurdles but the manner in which she travelled for a long way on hurdling debut suggests she can be more competitive today than her big price suggests. Any 16/117.00 or bigger appeals.
The other horse of interest at a big price in the mares' maiden hurdle is Portville, who wasn't competitive in three starts over hurdles last season but those were stronger contests than the one she's in today.
On her hurdling debut at Leopardstown, her jumping lacked fluency early on before she moved into a prominent position early in the back straight. She remained in a handy position and was in third entering the home straight before fading away to finish thirteenth.
She was never in contention next time in very testing conditions at Punchestown before showing a bit more at Naas on her third start over hurdles where she made some headway early in the home straight but couldn't sustain that late on.
Portville was off the track for 179 days before returning on the flat at Leopardstown and hopefully that run will have put her spot on for the race today. This is a much weaker contest than she faced when taking on the likes of Tekao and Byker and I think the sharp track will suit. Any 16/117.00 or bigger appeals.
Magnetic North has shown very little over hurdles but I think that could change this evening under circumstances that are likely to be ideal for him.
In the first three of his starts over hurdles, he didn't wear a visor and when doing so on his last two starts in this sphere, he's been held up which clearly hasn't suited him given he's shown his best on the flat when making the running or racing very prominently.
Those tactics have seen Magnetic North win four of his last five starts on the flat over a variety of trips and ground, and there's not many other obvious contenders to be taking him on in the early stages of this race which could lead to him being favourably positioned at a track that should suit him ideally.
It may turn out that he's just not a hurdler and will once again run poorly but this is the first time he will have had the opportunity to show his true ability in this sphere and any 7/24.50 or bigger appeals.
At a much bigger price in the same race, Chemdawg makes a little appeal on her handicap debut.
She started her career on the flat with Willie McCreery and showed some ability in three starts, most notably on her second start at Galway when staying on well to finish fifth.
She wasn't competitive in her three starts over hurdles last season when held up and never put in a position to make any sort of meaningful challenge.
Her jumping on her last start at Naas suggested that the return to a right-handed track will suit and I'm hoping that they will use far more positive tactics this evening given she looked a strong stayer on the flat.
It may be that she will need headgear back on to show her best as her best run on the flat came on her only start in a visor or she may need a much stiffer test of stamina than this but I can't let her go unbacked at such a big price and any 20/121.00 or bigger appeals.
Sea Squared finished tailed off on his handicap debut at Goodwood in May but that was in very testing conditions and I think he could be capable of running far better this evening.
He showed some ability over seven furlongs at this track on debut when looking very green and he ran fairly well at Haydock next time despite not being well positioned and I'm not sure that track suited him.
Sea Squared was always well behind on his final start as a two-year-old at Kempton and was gelded prior to his first start of this year at Goodwood where he was sent off 4/1 but was too keen and likely didn't enjoy the very deep ground.
I think these conditions should be more suitable for him and given he's had a significant break since the run at Goodwood, it may also be that he had a problem that day which also led to him running so poorly.
It may turn out that he's just not going to be the quality of horse that his debut suggested he was capable of being but in a race of this quality I think he's overpriced and any 10/111.00 or bigger appeals.
Read Daryl Carter's Thursday tips here.