17:30 Down Royal

Friday 8 September 2023

All15:5016:2517:0017:3018:0518:4019:10

Grant Thornton Nursery Handicap (47-70)

Off time: 17:30 | Winning time: 1m 29.19s

(8)

Poppadom⁴⁸

Age: 2| Weight: 9-11| J: Andrew Slattery| T: A Slattery| OR: 68

4/1

Lightly-raced maiden. Creditable fifth of 9 in nursery (14/1) at the Curragh (6f, soft) 48 days ago. Gelded since and one to consider.

Form: 7055

(7)

The Bear Trap^b1¹⁵

Age: 2| Weight: 9-8| J: Shane Foley| T: Mrs J Harrington| OR: 65

5/1

Lightly-raced maiden. Fifth of 8 in nursery (5/1) at Killarney (8.1f, good) 15 days ago. Blinkers on 1st time.

Form: 6695

(3)

Chou Chou⁵⁵

Age: 2| Weight: 9-5| J: Colin Keane| T: N Meade| OR: 62

6/1

Thrice-raced maiden. 100/1, eighth of 11 in maiden at Navan (5f, good to soft) 55 days ago. Significantly back up in trip for this handicap debut. Others more persuasive.

Form: 078

(4)

Hasshoffman^p1⁶⁴

Age: 2| Weight: 9-5| J: Dylan Browne McMonagle| T: J P O'Brien| OR: 62

11/2

Thrice-raced maiden. Sixth of 9 in maiden (66/1) at Bellewstown (5f, good to soft) 64 days ago. Significantly back up in trip and cheekpieces on 1st time for this handicap debut.

Form: 006

(5)

Burn The Bridges^b1²⁷

Age: 2| Weight: 9-3| J: Ben Coen| T: J P Murtagh| OR: 60

17/2

Thrice-raced maiden. Tenth of 13 in maiden (150/1) at the Curragh (7f, good) 27 days ago. Yard in good form. Blinkers on 1st time for this handicap debut.

Form: 050

(2)

Velvet Skies¹⁹

Age: 2| Weight: 9-3| J: Wesley Joyce⁽⁷⁾| T: M Mulvany| OR: 60

5/1

Lightly-raced maiden. Respectable fifth of 11 in nursery at the Curragh (6f, good to soft, 33/1) 19 days ago. Has good chance on pick of form.

Form: 40055

(9)

Expecto^p¹⁵

Age: 2| Weight: 8-12| J: Rory Cleary| T: J S Bolger| OR: 55

6/1

Lightly-raced maiden. 20/1 and cheekpieces on for 1st time, creditable fourth of 8 in nursery at Killarney (8.1f, good) 15 days ago, merely closing up late. Merits consideration.

Form: 85084

(6)

Rogerwaswrong⁴²

Age: 2| Weight: 8-9| J: N G McCullagh| T: Sean Davis| OR: 52

28/1

Thrice-raced maiden. 125/1, sixth of 7 in maiden at this C&D (good to soft) 42 days ago, slowly away. Makes handicap debut.

Form: 706

(1)

Finsceal Annie¹⁷

Age: 2| Weight: 8-7| J: Jamie Powell⁽⁵⁾| T: L McAteer| OR: 50

12/1

Thrice-raced maiden. 250/1, fifth of 7 in minor event at Roscommon (7.4f, good to soft) 17 days ago. Makes handicap debut.

Form: 985

Result Amended

Expecto - Original Position 4th. Amended Position 3rd.

Finsceal Annie - Original Position 3rd. Amended Position 4th.

Forecasts

Poppadom (4/1), Velvet Skies (5/1), The Bear Trap (5/1), Hasshoffman (11/2), Expecto (6/1), Chou Chou (6/1), Burn The Bridges (17/2), Finsceal Annie (12/1), Rogerwaswrong (28/1)

Though VELVET SKIES failed to progress when fifth of 11 on his first run in a nursery at the Curragh, that was a respectable effort nonetheless, particularly bearing in mind that he was 4 lb 'wrong' at the weights. Able to race off his correct mark here and likely to benefit from the return to this trip, he could be the answer. Expecto wasn't disgraced at Killarney last time and may emerge as the main danger ahead of Poppadom.