Colbert Station calling at Leopardstown

The countdown to Cheltenham continues today and punters will congregate at Leopardstown hoping to pick up on all the last minute  rumours and gossip doing the rounds. As an added bonus we have a team of up to 31 horses pencilled in to do their last serious piece of work before the festival. No need to hurry home then ,remember what Total Enjoyment did a few years ago !

Racing opens with the two and a half mile maiden hurdle, a race where the disappointing Lord Gale can be given one more chance running on this better ground. Another to consider might be the Gigginstown horse ,Troubled, who finished just ahead of Lord Gale on their latest start at Naas. Sheer Genius is still a maiden after 16 starts while the early pace may well be provided by Charlie Swan’s mare Taraval.

The conditions hurdle at 2.30 looks at the mercy of the top rated Pittoni although following a decent start to the season his recent form has been somewhat disappointing and after he missed an intended engagement at Gowran last weekend he has a few questions to answer here. New Phase has it to do as he meets Pittoni on 16lbs worse than official handicap ratings and Oilily is preferred as the alternative forecast option. The better ground will suit here and if she can reproduce the form that saw her finish second in an grade two event at Aintree she may well go close today.

The two mile handicap hurdle at 3.00 looks competitive although leading owner J.P McManus looks to have a strong hand here with Jenari,The Way We Were and Carrigmartin all holding chances. Geragthy takes the ride on The Bull Hayes and given that the horse still holds a County Hurdle engagement at the festival, a prominent showing is expected in this race. Expect Cothrom Na Feinne to make the early running in what looks like a fascinating heat.

Onto the winners of two chase at 3.30 where Donnas Palm will be a confident choice for many to follow up a dramatic win at Navan two weeks back. Ratings suggest he will be hard to beat but the horse usually reserves his best for Navan and has yet to win here at Leopardstown from five starts. Danger looks to be the O’Grady trained Slieveardagh, a horse who will undoubtedly suited by today’s better ground and do remember that he ran First Lieutenant to less than two lengths at Tipperary back in October. Smart form indeed !

The featured Carrickmines Handicap Chase at 4.00 has been a busy race in the early markets this morning with the relatively unexposed Colbert Station a real punt from an opening 9-2 through to a current mark of 9-4. This is a horse making it’s debut in handicap company today and for that reason alone many of the professionals will be against him in this competitive heat. Top weight Roberto Goldback ran a fine 2nd to Quel Espirit here in The Hennessy and despite top weight can make his presence felt here,while Peak Raider looks a viable play in the place markets.

The two mile five handicap chase has attracted a maximum field of twenty runners and given the open nature of the event the recommendation for backers would be to play two or three each way,safe in the knowledge that the bookmakers have to settle down to the first four places in this handicap. A few I will be contemplating will be the unexposed Dun Masc,Paul Fynn’s Oscar Barton who runs off a twenty pound lower mark over fences and Molly’s Boy who finished a decent fourth at Navan yesterday and is another who is nicely handicapped over fences.

Racing concludes with the two mile winners bumper at 5.00. The only winner in the field Jezki will undoubtedly head the market here after an impressive win over course and distance a few weeks back. Plenty of potential dark horses here including Jezki’s stablemate The Big Easy the mount of Patrick Mullins and the Griffin trained Academy Timberoe the mount of Nina Carberry.As usual the market will undoubtedly be the best reference when assessing this race.

Enjoy your racing from Leopardstown today and don’t forget to call us here at Star Spreads on 1800 624 624 where our expert team of traders will talk you through the wide variety of markets available to you. With Cheltenham just around the corner isn’t it time you opened a Star Spreads account, you won’t be disappointed !

Donal