Tullamore (C & G) Maiden Hurdle

Off time: 17:10 | Winning time: 4m 33.08s

Ballycloven Beat^h1¹⁸⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 12-0| J: L P Dempsey| T: M Brassil

20/1

Slowly improved in bumpers for two different trainers; pulled up on only start over hurdles last December; hard to assess making another start for new connections.

Form: 755P-

Enjoy D'allen¹¹³

Age: 6| Weight: 12-0| J: Kevin Sexton| T: Peter Fahey| OR: 116

13/8

Had generally been disappointing over hurdles before putting in a reasonable effort on handicap debut when last seen in March; if able to build on that then he has every chance here.

Form: 1/86854-

Kelter's Dawn⁴⁸³

Age: 7| Weight: 12-0| J: Liam McKenna⁽⁷⁾| T: J J Lambe| OR: 95

50/1

Yet to place from 11 career starts; generally disappointing on the Flat and over hurdles; would be a major surprise if he was capable of landing this.

Form: 60700/

Minella United^t1²²¹

Age: 7| Weight: 12-0| J: D N Russell| T: H De Bromhead| OR: 102

10/3

Yet to make his mark over hurdles and has only shown glimmers of ability on a couple of occasions; in good hands and worth at least a betting check.

Form: 27/600-

Shackleton Island^b1⁷

Age: 6| Weight: 12-0| J: J G Gilligan⁽⁷⁾| T: P J Gilligan

80/1

Gelding by Doyen; pulled up both starts in point-to-points and very disappointing on all three hurdles outings to date including last week at Limerick.

Form: P/P00-0

Siberian Star¹⁸³

Age: 5| Weight: 12-0| J: J P O'Sullivan⁽⁷⁾| T: P J Rothwell

18/1

Well beaten and unfancied in all his bumper and hurdles starts; hard to see where the improvement will come from and may struggle even in this company.

Form: 77566-

Somptueux¹³¹

Age: 5| Weight: 12-0| J: Rachael Blackmore| T: H De Bromhead| OR: 118| BF

6/4

Cost £70,000 as a yearling; placed on only point-to-point start in April 2019; not shown too much in three hurdles outings to date but open to improvement and worth closer inspection.

Form: 2/770-

Forecasts

Somptueux (6/4), Enjoy D'allen (13/8), Minella United (10/3), Siberian Star (18/1), Ballycloven Beat (20/1), Kelter's Dawn (50/1), Shackleton Island (80/1)

None with stand out chances and it may pay to rely upon ENJOY D'ALLEN who put in his best career performance on his handicap debut at Naas. He was not ultra competitive that day but this is much easier and is given a tentative nod. Somptueux has failed to set the world on fire in his hurdling career but has run some fair efforts and would not need to improve too much to be involved. Stablemate Minella United has a similar profile. There is certainly potential for him to improve.