16:35 Down Royal

Friday 1 September 2017

All16:3517:0517:4018:1018:4019:1019:40

Molson Coors N.I. 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle

Off time: 16:35 | Winning time: 3m 55.60s

Dan Gun

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: Brian Hayes| T: J J Hanlon

33/1

Intikhab gelding is a newcomer, stable haven't had many runners of late and unless market suggests otherwise, looks best watched for this debut run.

Form:

Downtown Rebel^p1²⁵

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: S J Gray⁽³⁾| T: A Slattery

25/1

Poor record in six starts on the Flat and made just an average introduction to this game at Cork (2m, yielding) last month, could play a role if jumping has improved a bit.

Form: 5

Dravid⁴⁰

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: A E Lynch| T: E D Delany

33/1

Famous Name gelding was mostly uncompetitive in nine starts on the Flat (unplaced) and has never been stretched beyond a mile before. Hard to make a case on jumps debut.

Form:

Kuiper Belt⁵²

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: I J McCarthy| T: C P Donoghue

66/1

Maiden after five starts on the level, was backed on occasion but never threatened to score. First start for new trainer, attempting jumps and going beyond 1m for the first time.

Form:

Richard Strauss¹⁸

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: S A Shortall⁽³⁾| T: J P O'Brien| BF

8/1

Modest AW winner on the Flat (1-14 overall on AW/turf), showed promise when runner-up on hurdles bow at Cork (2m, yielding) early last month but since flopped when short-price favourite at Ballinrobe. Might be best to forget that run.

Form: 37

Thomas O'Malley^t¹⁸

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: D N Russell| T: J P O'Brien

5/4

Decent winner on the Flat and found only a stablemate too strong on hurdles bow at Ballinrobe (2m 1½f, yielding to soft) last month. Finished ahead of stablemate Richard Strauss then, and ought to again if improving for the experience.

Form: 2

Vision D'Ete²⁵

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: Sean Flanagan| T: N Meade

5/2

Decent start in 2m maiden hurdle at Cork last month (yielding), finishing fourth (5L behind Richard Strauss in third) and should be able to build on that run under similar conditions.

Form: 4

Elzaa⁹

Age: 3| Weight: 10-5| J: J S McGarvey| T: Adrian Mcallister

25/1

Filly hasn't shown any great level of ability so far in her 12-race Flat career, she'll need to improve markedly for jumping these obstacles to score on debut in this sphere.

Form:

Little Princess¹⁸

Age: 3| Weight: 10-5| J: M J Bolger| T: Mrs J Harrington

20/1

Fair way behind a couple of these rivals on jumps bow last month at Cork (2m, yielding), since attempted to make running at Ballinrobe, jumping rather undoing the tactic at times. Must improve in that department.

Form: 95

Minnie Dahill¹⁸

Age: 3| Weight: 10-5| J: Ruby Walsh| T: T M Walsh

7/1

Finished in front of a few of these on jumps bow at Ballinrobe (2m1½f, yielding to soft) last month, can improve on that but has work to do to get by Thomas O'Malley seemingly.

Form: 4

Sammyjade³⁴

Age: 3| Weight: 10-5| J: C A Landers⁽⁷⁾| T: W M Roper

33/1

Maiden on the Flat but has shown some promise at times, all runs have come over sprint trips, so this is going to be something completely different and watching brief is advised for that reason.

Form:

Sonic Wind¹⁸

Age: 3| Weight: 10-5| J: L P Dempsey| T: Miss S J Harty

33/1

Failed to progress in four Flat runs this summer and has plenty to do against some of these rivals based on last month hurdling bow at Ballinrobe (2m1½f, yielding to soft).

Form: 6

Forecasts

Thomas O'Malley (5/4), Vision D'Ete (5/2), Minnie Dahill (7/1), Richard Strauss (8/1), Little Princess (20/1), Downtown Rebel (25/1), Elzaa (25/1), Sammyjade (33/1), Sonic Wind (33/1), Dan Gun (33/1), Dravid (33/1), Kuiper Belt (66/1)

THOMAS O'MALLEY comes off best on Flat form with these rivals and should build on a pleasing start to his hurdles career at Ballinrobe last month. He finished well clear of his more fancied stablemate Richard Strauss on that occasion, and should do again of progressing for the run. The latter is certainly not to be written off and it won't be a surprise if they fight out the finish. Minnie Dahill showed enough in that same contest (ahead of Richard Strauss) to merit respect here while Vision D'ete also showed up well at Cork last month and is capable of progressing.