Nic Doggett provides an overview of the key things to note on Sunday.
Jockey booking of note in the Irish Lincoln
If you’re dealing with a Cheltenham Festival hangover, don’t roll over just yet; asleep to your left is the Flat season, and it’s just starting to wake up.
The Nua Healthcare Irish Lincolnshire is the big race on the first turf day of the Irish Flat season, with 26 runners declared for the mile contest due off at 16:20.
The market has tended to provide some valuable clues, with five winning favourites since 2011, and only four winners sent off at double-figure-odds (and no bigger than 16/1) over that same period of time.
Colin Keane – winner of the Champion Bumper on Wednesday aboard The Mourne Rambler – returns to the Flat and rides Akecheta, an interesting mare on that jockey booking alone (Keane has only had 18 rides for the Kevin Coleman yard, but has two wins, two seconds, a third and five fourth-placed finishes).
However, it’s also worth noting – as the Smart Stats tell us at the bottom of the Timeform racecard – that Coleman, who is already off the mark for March, has a £57.89 profit to a £1 level stake when having one runner at a Flat meeting.
With the six-year-old Akecheta also holding the Timeform ‘Horses For Courses’ flag, a big run looks on the cards.
Remembering Doddie's best performances
As it’s Mothering Sunday, it seems only right that a female could be one of the star attractions at Chepstow.
Eremenko is a close relation of Doddiethegreat, the 2025 Pertemps Hurdle winner who couldn’t produce the same sort of performance in this week’s Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle but nonetheless raised awareness of the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation which continues to fund research to find effective treatments to motor neuron disease.
Some intrepid sorts embarked on an 800-mile cycle from the Borders town of Melrose to Dublin (via Wales) this week in time to deliver the match ball for Saturday’s Ireland V Scotland Six Nations clash – you can donate here – and some may well be stopping off in South Wales on the way home to see Eremenko have her second hurdling start in the Beware The Brides Of March Mares' Maiden Hurdle at 14:10.
Well clear on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings, and representing a Nicky Henderson yard that has the ‘Hot Trainer’ flag, she looks to have been found an excellent opportunity to build on a promising hurdling debut fourth at Taunton and add to her bumper success.
Better ground could be Musique to my ears
Mickey Bowen made a strong start to being a sole licence holder last year, but it’s worth noting that he saddled 39 winners from 145 runners in the five months between May and September, but only seven winners from 134 runners in the six months since.
The early indications then, would be that better ground suits his horses best, and after a drying day that’s what should hopefully face Musique De Fee when she has her first start for the yard in the CopyBet Daily Profit Boost Mares' Handicap Chase (16:42) at Market Rasen on Sunday.
Formerly in the care of Georgina Nicholls, the grey is another to look out for in the springtime, with all of her five wins coming between 8 March and 26 May, each on ground described by Timeform as good or good to soft.
Sean Bowen taking over from Joshua Bryan means that she has the Timeform ‘Jockey Uplift’ flag for her stable bow, and the handicapper now only has her 1 lb above her last winning mark.
Sunday's race is a qualifier for the Challenger Mares’ Final at Cheltenham in April and there’s already good news for the four mares running here; you only need to finish in the first eight to qualify for the final.
More from Sporting Life
- Free bets
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results and free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS and Android app
- Football and other sports tips
- Podcasts and video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.