Alan Dunlop Agri Machinery Maiden Hurdle

Off time: 16:22 | Winning time: 5m 22.80s

Cut The Rope¹⁸⁸

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: Kieren Buckley| T: E & P Harty| OR: 114

11/4

Fair hurdler. 16/1, respectable seventh of 15 in handicap hurdle at Navan (20f, good to soft). Off 7 months ahead of this yard debut and others make more appeal for win purposes.

Form: 926/P57-

William Butler^b¹⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: Jack Kennedy| T: G Elliott| OR: 111

7/2

Fair hurdler. One win from 3 runs last season. Blinkered for 1st time, creditable second of 13 in novice hurdle (11/5) at Kilbeggan (24.4f, good to soft) 16 days ago. Key player.

Form: 55-3242

Beltoy¹⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 11-4| J: Mr T C Kileff⁽⁷⁾| T: S R B Crawford

66/1

Once-raced maiden. 33/1, seventh of 13 in novice hurdle at Kilbeggan (24.4f, good to soft) on NH debut 16 days ago. Easy enough to look elsewhere.

Form: P7-7

Coded Welder^t¹¹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-4| J: Sam Ewing| T: Paul Mulligan| OR: 110

11/8

Lightly-raced maiden under Rules. Creditable third of 16 in novice hurdle at Galway (22f, good to soft, 12/1) 11 days ago. High on the shortlist.

Form: 2-FR323

Dramatic License^t¹⁹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-4| J: J J Slevin| T: S R B Crawford| OR: 103

6/1

Fair hurdler. 9/2, bit below form seventh of 13 in novice hurdle at Ballinrobe (17.4f, good) 19 days ago. This step up in trip could help unlock improvement.

Form: 324-347

North Moon¹⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 11-4| J: Paul Townend| T: W P Mullins

14/1

Twice-raced maiden under Rules. 5/1, fifth of 13 in novice hurdle at Kilbeggan (24.4f, good to soft) on hurdles bow 16 days ago, finishing tired. Likely to improve for his top yard.

Form: 75

Non-Runners

Southey⁹⁹

Weight: 11-4| Age: 5

T: S R B Crawford J: Danny Mullins

Forecasts

Coded Welder (11/8), Cut The Rope (11/4), William Butler (7/2), Dramatic License (6/1), Southey (7/1), North Moon (14/1), Beltoy (66/1)

The vote goes to CODED WELDER, who has finished in the money on each of his three starts over hurdles and while a stiffer test would probably be ideal, he looks more than capable of winning a race of this type. William Butler has also been knocking on the door and looks set to play another leading role. Likely improvers Dramatic License and North Moon also enter calculations.