19:50 Tramore

Thursday 15 August 2019

All17:1517:4518:1518:4519:2019:5020:20

O'Neills Bar Handicap Hurdle (80-95)

Off time: 19:50 | Winning time: 5m 7.7s

Bellgrove³¹

Age: 11| Weight: 11-12| J: Danny Mullins| T: P M Cloke| OR: 95| C| D

16/1

Mixing it over hurdles and fences of late. Suffered a heavy defeat at Downpatrick (2m3f; good) last time when fifth of 14. Previously scored over fences at this track before that, so return to this venue could bring about some improvement.

Form: 12-4135

Canadian Steel^t⁴^{(ex 5)}

Age: 10| Weight: 11-11| J: J S McGarvey| T: N C Kelly| OR: 89| C

9/10

Chasing a hat-trick after a pair of wins at Downpatrick over 2m6f. Won here over fences in May, and despite his mark being raised a further 16lb, he is rather difficult to oppose in a race where many are out of form.

Form: 114311

Django Dancer^t1²⁸

Age: 6| Weight: 11-10| J: P D Kennedy| T: M Kennedy| OR: 93

33/1

Makes handicap debut off a stiff enough mark considering he showed very little in a trio of efforts in maiden hurdles. Should improve for the switch to this sphere, but little bit to prove off current mark.

Form: 500

Fu's Island⁵

Age: 9| Weight: 11-9| J: J M Moore| T: P Meany| OR: 92| D

25/1

Standout effort of recent times was when she was a two-length second at Limerick (2m5f; good) in April. Not ran anywhere close to that level of form the last twice, and hasn't won a race since June 2016.

Form: 0002-58

Courtin Bb¹⁰

Age: 9| Weight: 11-5| J: Darragh O'Keeffe| T: P J Duffy| OR: 88| CD

8/1

In the form of her life recently, but things have gone awry of late as she has unseated her rider and then been pulled-up on either of her latest two starts. Has to be give another chance considering the form she was in before that.

Form: 2421UP

Rathnaleen Tou^t¹⁰

Age: 5| Weight: 11-5| J: H Morgan⁽⁷⁾| T: D H Kelly| OR: 88| CD

12/1

Broke maiden duck over this C&D two starts ago, but unable to follow that up when dropped in trip at Cork (2m3f; yielding) last time. Still unexposed and can't be written off as of yet.

Form: 09-0218

Tiantu^p,t²⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 11-5| J: Mr P Power⁽⁷⁾| T: Paul Power| OR: 88| C

12/1

Form has taken a bit of a nosedive after he made an encouraging start to chasing. Now returns to hurdles after showing very little over them last year. May be an improved horse now though, and could run into a place.

Form: 7-1U487

Alice Johnston^b1⁴¹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-4| J: L P Dempsey| T: P Roche| OR: 87

16/1

Not improved for the switch to handicaps over the smaller obstacles, faring no better than midfield on either of his last two starts. Needs to do much more stepped back up to 2m4f again.

Form: 7P50-79

Walking On Glass¹⁵

Age: 4| Weight: 11-4| J: Aidan Kelly⁽⁷⁾| T: P Roche| OR: 93

7/1

Makes handicap debut over hurdles after producing three low-key efforts in maiden company over the winter. Performed very well on the flat throughout this summer since then, and may be a dark horse entering this sphere for the first time.

Form: 000-

Josephina^t³⁷

Age: 6| Weight: 11-3| J: J J Slevin| T: A Mullins| OR: 86

16/1

Not shown much improvement for the switch to handicaps, and is subsequently hard to enthuse over. Still lightly raced and may have had excuses most recently when stepped up to 3m+ for the first time, but overall record makes minimal appeal.

Form: 4965-58

Caddy Shack²⁰

Age: 5| Weight: 11-2| J: Mr J P Berry⁽⁷⁾| T: J A Berry| OR: 85

33/1

Record still stands at 0-12, but she has to be considered a solid player for a place. Produced a respectable trio of efforts recently when sent off at 33/1 on each of those occasions, and should remain competitive off 2lb higher.

Form: 7-5U354

Sizing Joshua^b,t²⁰

Age: 6| Weight: 11-2| J: Katie O'Farrell⁽⁵⁾| T: M F Morris| OR: 85

16/1

Been on the go since November and has a patchy record. Marked improvement required after he was pulled-up at Wexford (3m; good) last time out, and he was struggling for form prior to that too.

Form: 34-U65P

Cloneen Lady^t³⁴¹

Age: 10| Weight: 10-11| J: S A Shortall| T: J Beamish| OR: 80

66/1

10-race maiden who is readily opposed after showing nothing in her short career. Makes seasonal reappearance after a 341-day absence and was woefully struggling for form when last seen.

Form: P/F000U-

Mary Fields^t²³

Age: 8| Weight: 10-11| J: M Hamill⁽³⁾| T: N P Hennessy| OR: 80

33/1

Seasonal return when seventh at Roscommon (3m1f; good) last month, and latest effort when filling that same position at Ballinrobe (2m5f; good) would not be good enough to see him feature. Needs to step up a fair bit.

Form: 00/00-77

Non-Runners

Cailean's Angel¹⁰

Weight: 11-12| Age: 6

T: E F Gallagher J: Darragh O'Keeffe

Star Of Oscar³³

Weight: 11-12| Age: 6

T: E Doyle J: A W Short

Shantelle⁵

Weight: 10-11| Age: 10

T: R Donohoe J: Reserve 1

Forecasts

Canadian Steel (9/10), Cailean's Angel (6/1), Walking On Glass (7/1), Courtin Bb (8/1), Star Of Oscar (10/1), Tiantu (12/1), Rathnaleen Tou (12/1), Shantelle (14/1), Sizing Joshua (16/1), Josephina (16/1), Bellgrove (16/1), Alice Johnston (16/1), Fu's Island (25/1), Mary Fields (33/1), Django Dancer (33/1), Caddy Shack (33/1), Cloneen Lady (66/1)

A fiendishly difficult puzzle to solve with a full field of 16 set to go to post. Despite the fact he hasn't shown much of any real note, it would be no surprise to see Walking On Glass step up markedly on his previous exploits on what is his handicap debut, just as he has done on the flat this summer. Cailean's Angel should go close once more, just as he has done on each of his last three starts including when narrowly coming off second best in a 24-runner handicap at Cork recently. We'll stick with CANADIAN STEEL though who won here over fences in May, and is bidding for a hat-trick of wins over hurdles after looking ahead of his mark in a pair of wins at Downpatrick.