Irish Eyes: Lord it up!
After a short-priced treble last week, can our Irish Eyes column return further tasty profts at Fairyhouse this afternoon?
Last Updated: 19/01/14 11:24am
After a short-priced treble last week, can our Irish Eyes column return further tasty profts at Fairyhouse this afternoon?
In a departure from the recent norm, it's time to desert a Willie Mullins runner in a bumper and instead back Gigginstown runner Lord Scoundrel, trained by Gordon Elliott.
Most Peculiar, is making his debut here for the champion trainer but he does not boast the type of pedigree we normally associate with a Mullins inmate - in fact his dam has only produced one winner to date, Tico, who only managed one maiden hurdle win at Tramore from 29 starts.
Word on the grapevine suggests that Most Peculiar is more of a fun horse than a serious Cheltenham prospect.
Lord Scoundrel on the other hand boasts a very strong pedigree as a half-brother to three winners as well as being a full brother to the talented Balanslow, who interestingly won his first two bumpers for Gigginstown including his debut here at this track for none other than Willie Mullins!
Pedigree isn't everything and you can't train paper, but Lord Scoundrel has backed up his page with two-above average runs on the track to date, proving that he is very talented in his own right.
Having run second here on his debut behind subsequent Grade Two winner Royal Caviar, he was then only beaten half a length by Chancol at Navan and that rival went on to run well in fourth behind the top class Western Boy at Leopardstown.
There isn't much between Lord Scoundrel and the Mullins representative in the betting, but the selection would surely be a much shorter price were he trained by Mullins. That is to punters' advantage here and he is the nap of the day in the But Tickets Online At Fairyhouse Bumper- take the price!
The feature race of the day, the €60,000 Underwriting Exchange Dan Moore Memorial Handicap Chase looks a wide-open affair and an each-way wager on Capspeed could pay dividends.
On the face of it, a horse that has been running over fences since 2010 and remains winless from 12 starts is not the most obvious selection in a competitive handicap, particularly when he is running from 6lb out of the handicap.
However, he has some decent form to his name without ever having been given a chance in handicap company. Now, with extensive experience under his belt, he runs here off 121, which is 7lb below his highest rating over fences.
He was unable to cope with smart novices Ned Buntline and Irish Thistle on his last starts off levels but still ran respectively, and having carried 11-12 on his last six runs, he may just feel he is running loose today under 10-3 and attempt to make all from the front.
English raider Majala easily boasts the best form in the race and if he weren't so prone to making such serious blunders, he would have got the vote. An error-free round would make him the horse to beat but he simply cannot yet be relied upon to produce that, so Cadspeed gets the each-way selection instead.
Tom Foley's horses remain in cracking form and his Might Be Magic is the final selection in the Fairyhouse For Fundraisers Handicap Hurdle.
He adores Fairyhouse and this will in fact be his third successive start at the track.
A winner over this trip here off a mark of 93 in November he returned in December to run Luke's Benefit to a short-head off 99.
Today he runs off just 5lb higher, which seems reasonable when one considers Luke's Benefit won his next two chase starts Wooly Tom - no less than 24 lengths back that day - has also since franked the form.
Might Be Magic began his love affair with Fairyhouse back in 2011 when he won over this trip off just 3lb lower than today's mark and when one considers his rider takes 7lb off today, that just reinforces confidence in his chances.