Betway weekend guide from Davy Russell
Davy Russell is the ambassador for leading online betting company Betway and previews his rides at Gowran Park and Naas this weekend and also gives an update on some Cheltenham Festival hopefuls.
Gowran Park Saturday
Fingers crossed Gowran can pass its early inspection, but with plenty of bad weather about things don’t look that promising.
Anyway, if it does get the green light then I’m looking forward to partnering Talented Kid which makes his hurdling debut in the maiden hurdle (2.45pm).
He’s got a good reputation and brings plenty of experience from the Flat, but it won’t be easy on this ground.
If Papa’s Way can reproduce the form that saw him finish a good second at Naas two starts back, then he must have a decent shout in the handicap hurdle (3.20pm).
My final ride of the day is Toon River in the handicap chase (3.55pm) - I won this race 12 months ago with Toon River.
He raced off a mark of 133 that day, so things will be a little tougher now he’s 7lb higher.
That said, he is a real course specialist and just loves it at Gowran having won four times there.
Naas Sunday
There may only be five runners in the opener (2.10pm) but it looks a real high quality novice hurdle. I’m on Attribution which is a nice horse even though he is the Gigginstown second string.
You have to respect the chances of the likes of Burgas and Willie Mullins’ Royal Caviar, but regular readers of this blog will know how much I like Gurteen.
Robert Tyner’s six-year-old has only tasted defeat once in four starts to date and that was behind a horse called Min - d efinitely the one we all have to beat.
Montys Meadow finally got his revenge on Willie’s team when beating Arbre De Vie at Thurles last time having chased home runners from the same stable on both previous starts.
He’s a nice type which can go well in the novice chase (2.40pm) but may struggle to beat Rule The World, who looks the class horse in the race.
Mouse’s (Morris) horse might have won the Galway Plate in the summer had he not slipped up on the flat approaching the last and will be hard to beat.
My final ride of the day is Justforjames in the maiden hurdle (4.10pm).
We’ve always felt that the step up to three miles would help. Another huge positive is that he is not shouldered with the penalty that has been weighing heavily on him in recent starts.
The one concern is that he may not be a ‘Sunday horse’ but his shrewd trainer may have found a nice opportunity.
Don Cossack
I had the of pleasure riding Don Cossack after racing last Sunday and he gave me a tremendous feel. He travelled nicely and relished the better ground as we always felt he would.
Zabana
Hopefully we’ll school him after racing on Sunday and at the moment I’d say we are looking 60/40 in favour of the JLT at the Festival.
An awful lot can happen between now and then and we will take a good look at the opposition in both races (JLT and RSA).
Full English?
The Irish often arrive at Cheltenham full of confidence about landing both the Supreme and the Neptune when it comes to the novice hurdles.
Well, this year I’m not too sure as Altior (Supreme), Yanworth (Neptune) and Barters Hill (Albert Bartlett) could easily land all three prizes for the home team.