16:38 Navan

Saturday 29 February 2020

All13:4514:1814:5315:2816:0316:3817:13

Proudstown Handicap Chase

5YO plus | 2m 1f | 11 Runners | Turf

Age: 11| Weight: 11-9| J: Danny Mullins| T: S J Mahon| OR: 109| C

Won a heavy ground Limerick beginners' chase in March 2018 but overall profile far from convincing including being tailed off last time at Thurles; chance on best form but plenty to prove.

Form: 8FPP-P9

King's War^t⁶³

Age: 11| Weight: 11-9| J: M F Mooney| T: Mrs A Mooney| OR: 109

Got his first win on the board when he sprung a bit of a surprise by landing a modest chase at Wexford (2m4f, good to yielding) in June; has been in and out of form since and needs to bounce back from woeful effort last time at Leopardstown.

Form: 79-1550

Spare Brakes^t³⁵

Age: 10| Weight: 11-8| J: Phillip Enright| T: R Tyner| OR: 108

Fell when in a reasonable position last time at Fairyhouse and had previously been showing a progressive profile over fences; decent chance if staying on his feet and looks fairly handicapped.

Form: 3/01-02F

Conright Boy^t¹⁴

Age: 11| Weight: 11-7| J: Donagh Meyler| T: Mrs C O'Leary| OR: 107

On a long losing run but much improved effort last time at Gowran Park puts him in the mix here; a reproduction of that effort would see this front-runner go close though the handicapper has taken no chances and raised him again.

Form: 6922P2

Da Baba Elephant^p,t¹³⁸

Age: 11| Weight: 11-4| J: B Browne⁽⁵⁾| T: R McNally| OR: 104

Landed handicap chase hat-trick in 2018 but has looked a shadow of himself in four starts since returning from a more than nine-month break. Hard to enthuse over coming back from another long break..

Form: 11-P0P7

Rossderrin^t²³

Age: 5| Weight: 10-11| J: L P Dempsey| T: J P Dempsey| OR: 102

Has a modicum of ability over hurdles and that has been a similar story over fences; has time on his side but would have needed to have shown more to be considered betting material.

Form: 609966

Grey Atlantic Way^b²³

Age: 7| Weight: 10-8| J: B J Foley⁽⁵⁾| T: E Linehan| OR: 94

Very modest hurdler who has just had the two starts over fences; plenty to like about his most recent run at Thurles where he may have finished closer if not for a few mistakes; open to improvement and market support would be interesting.

Form: 032862

Judkin^p1²³

Age: 7| Weight: 10-6| J: C A Landers⁽⁵⁾| T: M J McDonagh| OR: 92

Easily landed a Cork bumper in 2018 but has found the transition to jumping difficult; another whose jumping will need to improve and an unlikely winner until that happens.

Form: 211/07-0

Odds Or Evens^t1¹¹¹

Age: 6| Weight: 10-4| J: Simon Torrens⁽⁷⁾| T: A J Martin| OR: 90

Big prices and little impact in three spring maidens over hurdles and a similar story on his two tries over fences; little to recommend him on all known form and only hope is first-time tongue-tie can improve him.

Form: 070-70

Shrewdoperator^b1,t³⁵

Age: 10| Weight: 10-4| J: H Morgan⁽⁷⁾| T: P J Rothwell| OR: 90| D

Winner of three of his 23 starts over fences with last win coming over 18 months ago in a Cork 2m handicap chase; now racing 5lb lower than last winning mark but recent form has been poor and blinkers applied for the first time.

Form: P6PP66

Cluan Dara¹⁴

Age: 8| Weight: 10-2| J: K J Brouder| T: J P Ryan| OR: 88

Has run some fair races in defeat but rarely looks like winning and likely to be same sorry tale; probably needs some help from the handicapper to get truly competitive.

Form: 859056

Forecasts

Spare Brakes (5/2), Conright Boy (3/1), Grey Atlantic Way (4/1), Da Baba Elephant (10/1), King's War (10/1), Cluan Dara (10/1), Rossderrin (14/1), Odds Or Evens (14/1), Judkin (25/1), Shrewdoperator (25/1), Balbir Du Mathan (33/1)

A difficult race to identify an obvious winner so it would be no surprise to see a shock result. Of those with the best recent form, CONRIGHT BOY probably stands out based on his recent placed effort at Gowran Park. the eleven-year-old has now finished runner-up on his last three starts he has completed and certainly deserves a win for his consistency. Spare Brakes fell at the last flight last time out but had previously been showing some promise over fences. He would not have to improve too much to get competitive. Grey Atlantic Way is another who is open to improvement now he has shown some ability over fences and given a clear round has a reasonable chance.