17:40 Down Royal

Friday 1 September 2017

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

Linden Foods Handicap Hurdle (80-95)

Off time: 17:41 | Winning time: 3m 54.6s

Don't Be Hasty⁷⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: Keith Donoghue| T: Nicole McKenna| OR: 95

50/1

Unplaced in seven starts over jumps, reverts back to hurdles after pair of failed outings over fences in May/June. Down significantly in trip and hard to make the case.

Form: 000P-8P

Bective Cave^t⁷

Age: 9| Weight: 11-10| J: A E Lynch| T: M J Smith| OR: 93| D

20/1

Couple of wins over this sort of trip at Clonmel and Roscommon in June but handicapper appears to have won the argument for now. Struggling lately.

Form: 511040

Seaboard⁵⁶

Age: 6| Weight: 11-10| J: Brian Hayes| T: J J Hanlon| OR: 93| BF

10/1

Maiden after 11 career runs, six of them over timber, going the wrong way in three runs this summer and makes limited appear off a short break.

Form: 660-400

Sillogue Pio^h⁸⁴

Age: 8| Weight: 11-10| J: S J Gray⁽³⁾| T: G A Kingston| OR: 93| D

33/1

Tailed off in Clonmel race won by Bective Cave in June, not seen since and previous form over hurdles leaves him with a mountain to climb.

Form: 1500-00

Specific Gravity^b¹⁴

Age: 9| Weight: 11-9| J: Mr L J McGuinness⁽⁷⁾| T: A McGuinness| OR: 92

16/1

More noted for prowess on the Flat, was easily fended off over this sort of trip at Bellewstown in July, fit from AW spin at Dundalk recently but all to prove in this sphere.

Form: 27970/0

Western Goose⁹⁸

Age: 10| Weight: 11-8| J: Robbie Colgan| T: V C Ward| OR: 91

25/1

Now a ten-year-old, the mare scored at Fairyhouse in January over 2m4f on yielding to soft ground but has struggled in both runs since, not seen since 12L defeat here in May over 2m3½f.

Form: 9001-60

Boytonrath¹²

Age: 7| Weight: 11-6| J: D N Russell| T: G Elliott| OR: 89

3/1

Significantly improved last time on handicap hurdle bow at Tramore (2m, yielding), with this jockey in the plate for the first time. Up 3lb but could be plenty more to come, yard in flying form and merits major respect.

Form: 687P-02

Ardview Boy¹⁸

Age: 8| Weight: 11-2| J: Mr T Hamilton⁽⁵⁾| T: A Mulholland| OR: 85

11/2

A 16-race maiden over these obstacles, often races prominently and can be guilty of doing too much at the head of affairs. Not entirely ruled out but liable to settle for minor money.

Form: 0-42848

House Limit^b,t³⁵

Age: 8| Weight: 11-0| J: C D Maxwell| T: J Larkin| OR: 83

20/1

Sole hurdles win (dead heat) came at Downpatrick in June 2014, has spent this year hopping between codes and no really strong signals of a return to winning ways looming, so probably easiest to look somewhere else.

Form: U0-7F44

Paddy's Orient¹⁰

Age: 6| Weight: 11-0| J: D J Mullins| T: P A Fahy| OR: 83

9/2

Well beaten last year in trio of maiden hurdles and suffered hefty reversal last month at Sligo (2m5f, yielding) on first start for this handler / handicap bow. Has plenty improvement to find.

Form: 009-0

Judge Not²²³

Age: 5| Weight: 10-13| J: A Ring⁽³⁾| T: H Smyth| OR: 82

33/1

Hasn't displayed a great level of ability in three prior runs over hurdles to suggest he'll have more than bit-part role in this, pulled up latest at Navan in January and best watched now.

Form: 00P-

Precious Gold^p,t³⁶

Age: 4| Weight: 10-13| J: Danny Mullins| T: D E Fitzgerald| OR: 86

20/1

Has lacked fluency at times in five starts over timber and entitled to fairly meagre claims here based on handicap bow at Limerick (2m, good) in July when beaten 30L.

Form: 50-000

Sierra Law^t³⁶

Age: 4| Weight: 10-13| J: B J Foley⁽⁷⁾| T: K Thornton| OR: 86

15/2

Hasn't achieved enough in seven starts in this country to warrant consideration for win purposes, some gentle signs of progress recently but place claims at best seemingly.

Form: 0-U7935

Airdrigh¹⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 10-11| J: P E Corbett⁽³⁾| T: S R B Crawford| OR: 80

33/1

First-time cheekpieces didn't improve the outlook last month at Bangor over this sort of trip, continuing the theme of heavy defeats in six hurdles races, handicap debut now.

Form: 0-U0067

Boston Oscar¹⁸

Age: 8| Weight: 10-11| J: J S McGarvey| T: D J Barry| OR: 80

10/1

Improved on his previous hurdles form last month at Ballinrobe, going down 18L in fifth of 12 over 2m1f, form that clearly leaves him with significant improvement to unearth.

Form: 000/70-5

Graney Town⁵⁵

Age: 8| Weight: 10-11| J: D J McInerney⁽⁷⁾| T: P McCreery| OR: 80

25/1

Only win over timber came off this mark at Ballinrobe last July (2m5f) but recent efforts have offered very little encouragement that another strike is coming.

Form: 909-050

Jessicor^b²⁵

Age: 5| Weight: 10-11| J: R Loughran| T: D Cullen| OR: 80

25/1

First run for this trainer saw him finish tenth of 24 in a handicap hurdle at Cork (2m3f, good to soft) last month and leaves room for improvement if hoping to get competitive in this.

Form: 000-0P0

Mythical Lady⁴⁴⁴

Age: 7| Weight: 10-11| J: L P Dempsey| T: D J Ryan| OR: 80

66/1

Showed nothing in maiden hurdles for previous yard, off for 444 days now and makes stable debut with seemingly little reason for optimism on form.

Form: R0060/0-

Larwher'stommy^t³⁶⁰

Age: 8| Weight: 10-11| J: Sean Flanagan| T: Christian Delcros| OR: 80

33/1

Has a string of lacklustre efforts over hurdles in seven attempts, alongside a 360-day absence, to defy if getting a run (Second Reserve).

Form: 0PP0/0P-

Rock On Rosie^h¹⁹

Age: 8| Weight: 11-12| J: S A Shortall⁽³⁾| T: A B Joyce| OR: 95| CD

20/1

Only victory over hurdles came at this track on yielding ground back in August 2015. Disappointing on the Flat and over hurdles this summer and others make more appeal now (Third Reserve).

Form: F/04PP-6

Non-Runners

Sackfullofdreams¹⁵

Weight: 11-7| Age: 4

T: E J O'Grady J: Paul Townend

Oromo¹

Weight: 10-10| Age: 4

T: K Thornton J: J P O'Sullivan

Forecasts

Boytonrath (3/1), Paddy's Orient (9/2), Ardview Boy (11/2), Sierra Law (15/2), Boston Oscar (10/1), Seaboard (10/1), Specific Gravity (16/1), Precious Gold (20/1), Bective Cave (20/1), Rock On Rosie (20/1), House Limit (20/1), Jessicor (25/1), Western Goose (25/1), Graney Town (25/1), Sackfullofdreams (25/1), Oromo (25/1), Sillogue Pio (33/1), Judge Not (33/1), Larwher'stommy (33/1), Airdrigh (33/1), Don't Be Hasty (50/1), Mythical Lady (66/1)

These have the appearance of a fairly motley crew on recent evidence and it is hard to be confident in many of them. BOYTONRATH is at least coming here on the upgrade, having shown fair improvement last time to be second on handicap debut under this rider for the first time, a 3lb rise seems fair and this is a decent chance to open his account with trainer in superb form. Bective Cave has a pair of wins this summer but is now seemingly handicapped beyond his best. Ardview Boy likes to be up with the pace, which might prove useful if he settles, while Boston Oscar and Sierra Law have recently shown some very tentative signs of encouragement.