13:15 Down Royal

Thursday 17 December 2020

All12:1512:4513:1513:4514:2014:5515:30

Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Hurdle (80-102)

Off time: 13:15 | Winning time: 4m 32.5s

Benefit North^t¹⁰⁸

Age: 9| Weight: 12-0| J: C J Orr| T: C A McBratney| OR: 102

14/1

Hurdle winner off 5 lb lower in March. Respectable sixth of 12 in maiden chase at Downpatrick (19.2f, good, 33/1) 108 days ago, refusing to settle. Switches from chase to hurdles.

Form: F1-43P6

Lauderdale Lady¹⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: T N Brett⁽⁴⁾| T: J P Ryan| OR: 100| D

12/1

Winner in hurdle at Ballinrobe in August. 10/1, creditable fifth of 11 in novice hurdle at Limerick (19f, heavy) 16 days ago.

Form: 421535

Nodoubtaboutthat⁴²

Age: 5| Weight: 11-11| J: D J Hand⁽⁴⁾| T: S Crawley| OR: 99

7/2

1 win from 3 runs this season. Creditable fifth of 13 in handicap hurdle (5/1) at Thurles (16f, soft) 42 days ago.

Form: 000-015

Shortcross Storm⁴⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 11-11| J: Liam McKenna⁽⁴⁾| T: J G Cosgrave| OR: 99

18/1

Lightly-raced maiden. Remote fifth of 9 in maiden hurdle at this course (22f, soft, 80/1) 48 days ago. Down in trip. Makes handicap hurdle debut.

Form: 4/P30-65

Winston Wolfe¹⁴

Age: 6| Weight: 11-10| J: Simon Torrens⁽²⁾| T: A McGuinness| OR: 98

11/2

18/1, creditable fourth of 13 in handicap hurdle at Clonmel (16.2f, heavy) 14 days ago, well positioned. Looks competitive on form.

Form: 568/954

Listenheretomejack^h²¹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-9| J: R P Treacy| T: E Doyle| OR: 97

3/1

Career best when winning 13-runner handicap hurdle (9/1) at Thurles (15.8f, heavy) 21 days ago. Could have more to offer and 6 lb rise may not stop him.

Form: 00-4521

Walkers Point^b,t²³

Age: 9| Weight: 11-7| J: E Walsh⁽²⁾| T: S McParlan| OR: 95

22/1

Latest win in chase at Tipperary in October. 80/1, twelfth of 17 in minor event chase at Punchestown (24f, heavy) 23 days ago. Switches from chase to hurdles. Back down in trip.

Form: 699180

You Say Nothing²⁵

Age: 5| Weight: 11-5| J: C P McNamara| T: G P Cromwell| OR: 93| BF

6/1

7/2, below form eighth of 16 in handicap hurdle at Cork (16f, heavy) 25 days ago but had looked set to go close when falling 2 out at Fairyhouse prior to that.

Form: 0P60F8

Alnahar³⁴

Age: 10| Weight: 11-2| J: T Ryan⁽²⁾| T: N McKnight| OR: 90

66/1

Lightly-raced maiden over hurdles. Cheekpieces on for 1st time, tenth of 14 in handicap at Dundalk (12f, 22/1) 34 days ago. Switches from Flat to hurdles. Poor on last hurdle outing.

Form: 005F0/

Union Park^t⁵²

Age: 4| Weight: 11-2| J: J P O'Sullivan⁽⁴⁾| T: P J Rothwell| OR: 93

12/1

Lightly-raced maiden under NH rules. Creditable third of 10 in handicap hurdle (25/1) at Wexford (16.4f, soft) 52 days ago. Getting better with each recent run.

Form: 80-093

Fowlplay^t⁶⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 11-0| J: Aidan Kelly⁽⁴⁾| T: S Wilson| OR: 88

33/1

Lightly-raced maiden. Pulled up in handicap hurdle (33/1) at Fairyhouse (16f, soft) 68 days ago. Others more persuasive.

Form: 0-30P

Peace Party^h²⁵

Age: 8| Weight: 10-13| J: Gavin Brouder⁽⁴⁾| T: D McDonogh| OR: 87

10/1

10/1, bit below form thirteenth of 20 in handicap hurdle at Navan (20f, heavy) 25 days ago. Hood back on. Needs a couple of these to falter.

Form: 080/740

Non-Runners

Fassbender⁴²

Weight: 11-4| Age: 4

T: M M McNiff J: J G Gilligan

Darrens Diamond²³

Weight: 10-11| Age: 7

T: R Murphy J: Reserve 1

Halcyon Dreams²³

Weight: 10-8| Age: 5

T: P J Rothwell J: Reserve 2

Major Jim¹²⁵

Weight: 10-7| Age: 7

T: S Nolan J: Reserve 3

Forecasts

Listenheretomejack (3/1), Nodoubtaboutthat (7/2), Winston Wolfe (11/2), You Say Nothing (6/1), Peace Party (10/1), Lauderdale Lady (12/1), Union Park (12/1), Benefit North (14/1), Shortcross Storm (18/1), Darrens Diamond (20/1), Fassbender (20/1), Walkers Point (22/1), Fowlplay (33/1), Halcyon Dreams (33/1), Major Jim (50/1), Alnahar (66/1)

LISTENHERETOMEJACK is going the right way and can make light of a 6 lb rise for his Thurles win 3 weeks ago. Winston Wolfe has been on the premises in similar events in recent weeks and can play a part again, while Union Park took a step forward when third at Wexford last time and is less exposed than a lot of these.