DAILY RACING PREVIEW BY ANDY HOLDING
SUNDAY MARCH 9
2.40 NAAS
GORAIBHMAITHAGAT (best price 4-1) failed to live up to expectations at Punchestown last time out but he hasn’t become a bad horse over night and he is afforded another chance to back up the impression he created at Navan on his rules debut earlier in the campaign.
Colm Murphy’s gelding ran out an impressive winner of a maiden hurdle at the Meath venue back in December, clocking a good speed figure in the process, and he proved to be all the rage to continue his progression the following month
Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out as well as anticipated and he could only manage an honourable second to the all-the-way winner, The Great Nudie, but he never gave up the ghost in the final half a mile and his overall attitude couldn’t be faulted at the very least.
In a round also littered with fiddly little errors here, there and everywhere, the five-year-old will need to tidy up his act in that department here today, but there’s no doubt he has a fair engine to match his sizeable physique and maybe dropping back down in trip and racing left-handed again might prove to be a wise move by connections.
GORAIBMAITHAGAT – 1-point win@4-1
3.40 NAAS
UHAVEMEINSTITCHES (best price 8-1) lacks experience for a race of this nature but she could be worth chancing on account of the probability she remains on the upgrade.
James Motherwell’s filly first sprung to prominence when catching the eye with the way she travelled throughout the race eventually won by the useful Karafon (rated 132), and considering the winner went on to run really well behind Romeo Coolio in a Grade 1 next time, her performance was clearly miles better than expectations (sent off at 66-1).
Shaping as though it was only lack of experience that caught her out at the Powerstown Park venue, she duly backed up that view next time out at Limerick and since that victory back in December, there have been plenty who have come out and boosted the form (second, third and fourth all won).
The feature of both her performances so far to date has been the way she has travelled throughout, suggesting she has a fair engine, and with the strong possibility that her opening mark of 118 will prove well south of her true capabilities, the lightly raced five-year-old has a decent opportunity to back up that view on handicap debut.
UHAVEMEINSTITCHES – 1-point each-way@8-1
3.50 WARWICK
BOWENSPARK (best price 5-1) has been cutting his cloth in a much higher grade that what he faces here today and a chance is taken the slightly less fraught environment helps guide Henry Daly’s charge back in the right direction.
Good enough to finish fourth in the Aintree bumper two years ago, things haven’t gone too smoothly for the Walk In The Park gelding since but his two runs either side of disappointing at Haydock this season have offered some hope he might return to something like his previous best in due course.
Although no match for Altobelli & Co in a hot class 2 affair at Ascot last time out, he still came out of the contest with a useful speed figure next to his name and with a subsequent wind operation hopefully clearing up any issues that may have blighted him in recent times, the seven-year-old has every chance of finding his feet again back down at this sort of level (class 4).
BOWENSPARK – 1-point each-way@5-1