15:50 Fairyhouse

Saturday 11 January 2020

All12:2513:0013:3514:1014:4515:2015:50

Irish Stallion Farms EBF Auction Flat Race

Off time: 15:50 | Winning time: 4m 14.6s

The Priests Leap³⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 12-0| J: Mr D O'Connor| T: A L T Moore

6/1

Gelding by Flemensfirth out of an Oscar mare; cost €38,000 as a three-year-old; fair effort on racecourse debut at Navan in December; entitled to improve and is one for the shortlist.

Form: 3

Five Bar Brian⁷⁴⁹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: Mr P W Mullins| T: W P Mullins

9/2

Fair effort on only racecourse appearance at Newcastle but that was back in 2017 so current ability very hard to assess; respected, however, from top stable and market should be a good guide to his chances.

Form: 2/

I A Connect

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: Mr B O'Neill| T: G Elliott

5/4

Cost 36,000 euros as a yearling; stoutly-bred gelding related to plenty of hurdles winners; makes debut here and only reliable guide to his chances will be in the betting ring; respected nevertheless.

Form:

Barnaviddaun¹⁵

Age: 7| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr N Bashford⁽⁷⁾| T: T Mullins

9/1

Has not shown much in three starts in bumpers and over hurdles but hard to write off given that experience and could run into a place if showing some more improvement.

Form: 4P/547

Johngus^t¹⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr E P O'Brien⁽⁷⁾| T: S Aherne

28/1

Arakan gelding out of a Lahib mare; well held in a few point-to-point starts before not being disgraced on only racecourse appearance in a hurdles race at Limerick in December; interesting contender.

Form: F5-4

The Brimming Water

Age: 5| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr F Maguire⁽³⁾| T: E McNamara

25/1

By Yeats out of a Presenting mare; cost €17,000 as a three-year-old; best watched on debut unless market vibes suggest otherwise.

Form:

Oneknightmoreihope⁶³

Age: 5| Weight: 11-8| J: Mr E Mahon⁽⁷⁾| T: N F Glynn

66/1

Well beaten on first two point-to-point outings before failing to complete on his next two outings; difficult to recommend on those efforts.

Form: 33P-P

Wake The Giant

Age: 5| Weight: 11-8| J: Mr D G Lavery⁽³⁾| T: J G Cosgrave

50/1

Cost 9,000 euros as a three-year-old; well bred gelding related to plenty of bumper and hurdles winners; interesting contender on debut.

Form:

Harry Alonzo

Age: 4| Weight: 10-10| J: Mr M J O'Hare| T: N Meade

10/3

First foal; dam is related to plenty of stoutly-bred types and the feeling is he will come into his own over much further trips than this in time but worth a look at in the market to gauge stable confidence.

Form:

Forecasts

I A Connect (5/4), Harry Alonzo (10/3), Five Bar Brian (9/2), The Priests Leap (6/1), Barnaviddaun (9/1), The Brimming Water (25/1), Johngus (28/1), Wake The Giant (50/1), Oneknightmoreihope (66/1)

A difficult closing race with a slight preference going to THE PRIESTS LEAP who is one of the few in the line-up with recent run under his belt. His finished third at Navan on that occasion and while giving weight away all round may be good enough to land this. I A Connect is an interesting debutante given his National Hunt breeding. Any strong market moves would be a good indication of his chances. Five Bar Brian has been off the track since 2017 but connections look to have found him a nice race to see a racecourse once again. He is respected given his connections.