Winning Fair Juvenile Hurdle (Grade 3)

Off time: 13:46 | Winning time: 4m 7.7s

Mitchouka⁴¹

Age: 4| Weight: 11-7| J: D N Russell| T: G Elliott| OR: 135| CD

8/13

Twice finished behind smart Espoir D'Allen in graded contests in December prior to registering a third victory over hurdles when winning over C&D last time out. Sets the standard for flying trainer.

Form: 211231

Mastermind¹⁴

Age: 4| Weight: 11-4| J: R M Power| T: C O'Brien| OR: 123| D

9/2

Second win (from five) over hurdles when sticking on well to land novice contest at Naas (2m, heavy) this month. Twice floored by Mitchouka over this C&D already this season and hard to see a turnaround barring accidents.

Form: 61631

Big Ego⁷

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: J J Slevin| T: A Oliver

14/1

Modest on the Flat, outran odds of 40/1 on hurdles bow when 10L second behind odds-on Mullins-trained winner at Gowran Park in maiden company last week, finishing well clear of the remainder. Interesting runner, though clearly more called for.

Form: 2

Itsalonglongroad^h1,t¹⁶¹

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: B J Cooper| T: J C McConnell

20/1

Five-race maiden on the Flat, sports a first-time hood now switching to hurdles for the first time along with a tongue tie. Will have to learn quickly to make an impact.

Form:

Randalls Ur Poet^v1¹⁷

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: M J Bolger| T: S Fahey| OR: 117| BF

7/1

Very consistent hurdler, though no win as yet. Recent figures are 323232, going very close at Naas last month and over this C&D since. Visor is added, may be forced to settle for support role again.

Form: 323232

Alohamora²²

Age: 4| Weight: 10-7| J: Mark Walsh| T: J Nash| D

8/1

Filly was nothing special on the Flat, but she made an impressive winning start over hurdles at Catterick this month over similar trip. This is a decent step up in grade, but could have a bright future in this sphere.

Form: 1

Cristal Icon⁷

Age: 4| Weight: 10-7| J: D J Mullins| T: T Mullins

33/1

11-race maiden on the Flat and plenty of work to do based on what she achieved on hurdling bow at Gowran Park (2m, heavy) recently - has 18L to make up on Big Ego.

Form: 3

Forecasts

Mitchouka (8/13), Mastermind (9/2), Randalls Ur Poet (7/1), Alohamora (8/1), Big Ego (14/1), Itsalonglongroad (20/1), Cristal Icon (33/1)

Very hard to oppose MITCHOUKA in the opener for Gordon Elliott and Davy Russell. He's got three hurdles wins under his belt already and excelled over this C&D last month. This appears a good chance for him to snare a graded prize. Mastermind did well to win over C&D last time, though has plenty to find with the selection on prior meetings. The consistent Randalls Ur Poet should continue to go well and may land minor money, but the filly Alohamora is potentially more intriguing after a facile Catterick success on her hurdles bow recently.