Thursday Irish Racing Tips: Dolphin to come Flying home

Leopardstown stages a quality card on Thursday evening, the first of three such meetings at the Foxrock venue over the next couple of weeks, while there's also decent racing over at Limerick, where the Joseph O'Brien/Shane Crosse partnership is well represented.

Starting at Leopardstown, the 1m 2f premier handicap at 19:30 is as competitive as one would expect for the money on offer, with several in the field that could be better than their allotted marks.

It's the pair who are the most lightly raced that look the ones to concentrate on, and while I'm aware that World Famous could be ahead of an opening mark of 90, I'm going to side with one who was a major eyecatcher at Royal Ascot just a couple of weeks ago.

Flying Dolphin took a few runs to get off the mark, and it was the combination of cheekpieces and a tongue tie that seemed to be the making of him as he scooted up in a Gowran maiden in May.

It was his most recent run when fifth in the King George V Handicap that makes him of major interest here, though, as he got into trouble having occupied a position towards the rear before finishing off fastest of all.

His fast finish was no illusion either, as once sectional upgrades are applied to his final timefigure, he can be rated the best horse in the race.

There's also an element that we may not yet have seen the best of Flying Dolphin either, given that this will be just his fifth career start.

In a field where most of the runners have few secrets from the handicapper, he could well still be on a very handy mark from a perch of 94, only 2lb higher than that he raced off at Royal Ascot.

Mctigue still on a fair mark

The next race of interest is the 1m handicap at 18:30, where I'm hopeful Jim Bolger's Mctigue can build on his good runner-up finish at the Curragh last time.

The son of Fracas was a winner on just his second start over this C&D last August, a success that prompted connections to have a crack at Group 1 company in the Vertem Futurity on his final juvenile start, where he understandably found the going much tougher.

Gelded after starting his season with a last-place finish in the 2000 Guineas trial at this track in April, Mctigue got back on track to a certain extent when fourth to the useful Gear Up in a conditions affair at Gowran.

He then stepped up again with his most recent run at the Curragh, that coming in a much more competitive handicap than this one.

Leading entering the final furlong, he was worn down only late in the day, failing by a neck to hold on.

The handicapper has reacted by bumping the selection up 3lb, but that hardly looks insurmountable, and I'm confident he can give another bold show.

Mazagran fancied at course he enjoys

Over at Limerick, I'm siding with the aforementioned O'Brien/Crosse partnership in the 1m rated race at 19:15, which is effectively a handicap in all but name.

It's probably fair to say that Mazagran hasn't really lived up to expectations since joining Joseph O'Brien from Satish Seemar in Dubai last year, a win for his new yard at this track being followed by three pretty abject efforts afterwards.

However, he looked very much back on the right track when making an encouraging reappearance back here last month, where he kept on to be beaten just a head by Magic Chegaga.

There's obviously the possibility he may just be a better horse caught fresh nowadays, though it's worth noting he did string a couple of wins together at Jebel Ali early last year for his previous yard.

Certainly, if he's able to build on that good comeback effort he could prove a very well handicapped horse off a mark 89 - in fact, I had every expectation that he'd go on to be a pattern performer after that opening win for his current yard last year.

While it now seems clear he won't hit those sorts of heights, a race such as this should be well with Mazagran's compass, and we know he goes very well at the track, too.