Dundalk Friday Tips: Lucky Number to come out first

With the flat turf season starting to kick into gear, we don't have too many more Friday evening meetings at Dundalk to have a go at, so let's try to make a bit of hay as the all-weather season clings on before being superseded for the year.

The 1m maiden at 18:50 features a pair in Rosscarbery and Golden Lyric that are likely to be prominent in the betting but both are beginning to look exposed now and there could be some value in taking them.

I had a long look at Search For Thestar, who shaped with a bit of promise when debuting over this C&D in February, hinting at ability despite looking very green.

The problem I have with this one is two-fold, though.

Firstly, with a stamina-laden pedigree, he's surely not going to come into his own until tackling staying trips. Secondly, his trainer Luke Comer is hardly the most prolific operator around, with a career strike-rate of just 3% to his name.

To counter that, however, he has saddled a couple of winners in the last fortnight, so clearly has his string in good order.

Despite that pair of wins, I'm going to pass Search For Thestar over in favour of Johnny Murtagh's newcomer Maristella, who makes plenty of appeal on pedigree.

By 16% debut sire New Bay, this one's dam was unraced but is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Al Wukair, along with another couple of winners at a decent level.

Maristella also has a good draw in stall 6, which should enable jockey Ben Coen to get a nice early position provided she's sharply away. She won't need to be any sort of world beater to make a winning debut in this company.

Siding with one returning from a layoff

The following 1m handicap at 19:20 has a trappy look to it but I'm willing to take a chance on Lucky Number proving fit enough to do himself justice following a seven-month layoff.

Last seen finishing third off a mark of 54 last August, it's worth noting that this one won off a 10lb higher mark for the William Haggas yard back in 2019 before joining his current trainer Oliver McKiernan.

That last run hinted that Lucky Number still possesses enough ability to do himself justice from a low mark (dropped another 4 lb since then) and I'm encouraged that his current trainer has shown a couple of times in the last year that he's capable of bringing horses back from layoffs to get the job done.

A dual-purpose operator, McKiernan brought L'un Deux Trois back from a year off the track to strike at 20/1 in a Curragh handicap in October, while he also struck with Gatsby Grey over hurdles at Limerick in December, that one returning from a ten-month break.

Both of those examples are enough to give me confidence that Lucky Number won't be lacking for fitness on this return, and he could prove a well-handicapped horse if able to get anywhere near his old form.