Sunday Irish Racing Tips: Glamorous can hit the Munster Oaks frame at least

Tony Keenan
17 June 2018

Glamorous Approach can handle the ground best in the Munster Oaks.

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Cork host the feature race of the day in the Munster Oaks and Tony Keenan has found four horses work backing at the track...

"Glamorous Approach has been behind Bloomfield on both her starts this season but is a lot more adaptable ground-wise than some of her rivals and was placed in this race last year."

0.5 Point Back Glamorous Approach @ 9.08/1 or bigger in the Cork 15:50

Ahead of Royal Ascot week, it is good to see one of great jockeys in the meeting's history making things happen on the training front. Johnny Murtagh is a five-time leading rider at the Royal meeting but his recent training successes including a treble at Leopardstown on Thursday and another winner yesterday at Limerick will have given him plenty of satisfaction. He has only one entry at Ascot this week - Yolo Again in the Queen Mary - but shrewdly that filly is also in the Goffs London Sale tomorrow so her owners could be heading for a decent payday. Nor does he have an entry at Cork this afternoon where the flat action may not be Royal Ascot standard but there are a handful of decent betting opportunities.

Cork 15:50 - Ground makes Glamorous Approach a solid place bet

Jaega, Bloomfield and Flattering head the market for the Munster Oaks but while the first-named filly is particularly interesting from a form perspective, her Blue Wind second working out well, each has to prove they handle fast ground. It seems unlikely that all three will handle this good-firm surface which opens up the possibility of something at a bigger price hitting the frame.

Glamorous Approach has been behind Bloomfield on both her starts this season but is a lot more adaptable ground-wise than some of her rivals and was placed in this race last year. Her third to Eziyra in the Enterprise Stakes, that time on good-yielding, is the best effort in the field on time-figures and it helps that her stable are back in form now. Winning doesn't come easy to her, hence the main bet in the place market, but she is worth a small win play too.

Cork 16:20 - Top-weight Tandem can build on Leopardstown promise

A number of the Cork Derby runners have been running well in similar races such as Clongowes, Le Vagabond, Apparition and Sea The Lion, but as a consequence find themselves high enough in the weights and look summed up by their mark; they may be able to win races but not against well-treated rivals. It might be better to look for something that has been running elsewhere and could have a few pounds in hand.

Gustavus Vassa could well prove to be on a good mark and his early form from last season with On The Go Again and Elegant Pose, both listed winners since, suggests as much. He was given too much to do on both his starts for Willie Mullins last backend and a winter at Closutton may have brought some improvement; when he ran for Mullins last autumn, he was only 90 days removed from his Andy Oliver. The problem with him - as so often with runners from the yard - is one of price and he looks about his fair odds this morning.

Ming Dynasty shaped well on his first start for his new yard in April and has plenty of back-class but preference is for Tandem who caught the eye in the Heritage Stakes on return, travelling best before the combination of heavy ground and lack of fitness caught him out. He is feasibly treated off a mark of 100 (won a decent race off 99 last July) especially with a capable claimer up and these flat tracks seem to suit him well.

Cork 16:50 - Harrington runner to improve on taking debut

The early betting has found the right favourite in Victory Salute who was eye-catching when meeting trouble on debut at Leopardstown but he did carry his head a bit high that day and cutting back from 12 furlongs may not be ideal. Dawn Trouper is next in but Persian Lion has every chance of reversing Curragh form with him looking at how that race unfolded.

The Bolger horse was far more streetwise than Persian Lion, particularly at the stalls, but he travelled well in rear and made up his ground quickly off a slow pace before meeting trouble in the closing stages. It is unlikely he would have beaten the easy winner Lucius Tiberius but he shaped like the second best horse that day and should be shorter than his re-opposing rival now.

Cork 17:20 - Satchel can win in Galway tune-up

Hey Pretty might well have won with a clear run at Leopardstown last time and that form is working out with the winner having gone in again at Fairyhouse on Friday but there are negatives here; he is up six pounds for that defeat and a wide draw in stall 16 is less than ideal. Plenty of the rest have chances in what is a competitive 0-65 but Beau Satchel might be the bet off a falling mark.

He is a well-recognised Galway specialist at this point but might need to go up in the weights to ensure he gets into a race at that meeting and there was plenty to like about his last run at Navan behind Pedisnap when he got shuffled back at a key stage and came home well when his rivals had flown. A winner off much higher marks in the past, this ground is a little faster than ideal but he worth a small bet at double-figure odds.

2018 P+L: -13.3 points

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Recommended bets

0.5 Point Back Glamorous Approach @ 9.08/1 or bigger in the Cork 15:50
1.5 Point Place Back Glamorous Approach @ 2.56/4 or bigger in the Cork 15:50
1 Point Back Tandem @ 11.010/1 or bigger in the Cork 16:20
1 Point Back Persian Lion @ 5.59/2 or bigger in the Cork 16:50
0.5 Point Back Beau Satchel @ 12.011/1 or bigger in the Cork 17:20
0.5 Point Place Back Beau Satchel @ 3.412/5 or bigger in the Cork 17:20