Fahey's fine run can continue at the expense of Willie
Back Sit Down Lucy @ 4.03/1 in the 16:00 at Tramore
Prince Of Pillo landed the Hornblower for the column yesterday at 5/2, to make six individual winners in seven days. The double was denied however, and not for the first time, with a Ralph Beckett favourite seriously underperforming. That's two from the 'R' yard that I was with, and both were tailed off by miles.
No such problems with the strike-rate of the unstoppable Willie Mullins, whose Tramore record this season is 7-9 at a scarcely believable 77%. However, his horses on the card are seriously short with the likes of Old Bill Barley at 1/3 on the Sportsbook and Katie Tay in the bumper.
Therefore there might be a bit of value with Peter Fahey's Sit Down Lucy who won at the Galway Festival last time out over hurdles and switches back to fences today.
The "Tribes" win was only her second career victory - a surprising stat considering she is consistent. Her win at Ballybrit was over 2m, but she's versatile regarding trip and quirky tracks seem to suit her.
This has the look of an interesting Beginners Chase, as Mullins has a returner from a long absence, and Gordon Elliott is represented by Hollymount, but Fahey's horses were in great nick at Galway and he's continued that with three winners and a second from his last eight runners. Including Kojin on yesterday's card here.
Fahey has said she is a lot more mellow these days, and I have no issue with the longer trip today as this time last year she should have won at Ballinrobe over 2m7f, but she unseated her rider late on with a mistake with the race seemingly in the bag.
Raise a toast for McConnell bumper mare
Back Champagnesocialist @ 6.511/2 in the 17:10 at Tramore
It might be a difficult task in lowering the Rich Ricci colours in the finale, as Katie Tay ran in the Land Rover last time and has since made the switch to Willie's yard from Emmet Mullins after two runs.
I looked at the markets yesterday and her early price didn't surprise me, anything around 3/1 would have been interesting, but she was nowhere that when the markets were live, so I'll seek out some value with the consistent Champagnesocialist.
There is one run that looks most interesting with her - and that was her second behind Grangee in 2020 at Galway. Grangee has turned into a smart mare, but Champagnesocialist didn't race after that for 435 days. She was very smooth with the way she travelled and finished 9L ahead of the third - hitting 2.3611/8 in the run from a BSP of 16.5.
Her defeat at Musselburgh last time came after the long absence, so I wouldn't worry about that too much as comeback run, but she's bred stoutly and can certainly shake up the short price favourite on her second run for John McConnell.
And if you like the bigger fields, there's an Extra Place Special for the 14:15 at Tramore, and with the new Sportsbook feature, you can back two in the same race to place for a multiple.
August winners:
Prince Of Pillo 5/2 Won
Seeking Gold 5/4 Won
See The Sea 5/1 Won
Tarrabb 5/2 Won
Anmaat 9/2 Won
Tyrone's Poppy 11/4 Won