Irish Guineas Trial Weekend (Review & Previews 1st April)

It's just like history repeating itself! 

Bets: March 29th Let's get this out of the way. My only bet of the day was the well regarded Jessica Harrington runner Paris Lights. I put my bet on the night before when I saw the Siyouni colt's price, 11/2 an absolute steal I thought at the time. Didn't look many in with a chance, so I thought he could make the frame at least. I did have another problem here which was another tracker in the race. This is a big problem for me as I never know if I should split the stake or just go for the one I fancy the most. I weighed them both up, Paris Lights has experience and was well regarded last year, my other tracker also well regarded is Wexford Native for the Jim Bolger yard, first time out around 10s, right an each way on Paris Lights it is then. 

Things started to go wrong in the morning, the Joseph O'Brien favourite pulled out, rule 4 straight off, next Wexford Native backed in, I had a bad feeling here and I was right as Paris Lights missed the break and was nowhere to be seen but Wexford Native was up with the pace and fighting it out with the favourite Sun King, where was Paris Lights, I didn't have clue until he trailed in fifth, meanwhile Wexford laid down the gauntlet to Sun King and stayed on to win by a couple of lengths, c'mon Craig sort your shit out. I did mention Storm Dancer but the boy did well not having a bet after no support whatsoever, just to note my bets will be on craigsbettingblog only now and under the race concerned. The only problem is the horses most of the time have to be in a certain price range so if one drifts I will cash out, this will be added before the race has started. ❎ 

It's Irish Guineas Trial Weekend and the All Weather Championships. It looks like we have some decent races on the card here. I think from a betting prospective I will be leaving alone and just keeping a close eye on a few trackers. 

1st April 

6:10 Southwell 

Trackers. Kinrarra, NR Celestial Star. 

Readers of the blog should know by now now I do love a speculative bet, sometimes they come off sometime they don't, one tracker from last season Is the Mick Channon trained Kinrarra who I backed last timeout at Salisbury in what wasn't a bad race when finishing sixth at a big price, a few winners have come from that race since including the fifth place Micheal Stoute Equal Share who is also by sire Australia. The 30,000 gns purchase is out of dam Miss Lahar also trained by Mick Channon, won twice in her career including a Listed race at Naas in 2013 also finished second in the Cornwallis Stakes at Ascot. A half-sister to Shamlahar who won third time out for Simon Crisford over a mile at Lingfield on her final appearance, I would need to see some support here for me to consider having a bet, I also have Celestial Star here but the Keith Dalgleish Ribchester filly needs to improve dramatically after finishing down the field at Ayr in September. Did cost a few quid at 75,000 gns and an owner and trainer combo I like and bred to do better when stepped up in trip I will be watching the market with both. 

April 2nd 

2:00 Leopardstown 

Trackers. Minister Of War, Samuel Pepys. 

I have two trackers in this both trained by Aidan O'Brien. Minister Of War is the choice of Ryan Moore. The 150,000 gns Churchill colt has a couple of runs under his belt already and came third at Roscommon, had a break since then and should be ready for this step up in trip, next one is the O'Brien newcomer Samuel Pepys who is a full-brother to Year Of Tiger and Southern Cape. Interesting to see if this is just an educational ride here by Wayne Lordan, hopefully a nice type for the future. 

3rd April 

Cork 2:05 Early entries. 

Trackers. Lost, Galleria Borghese, Osraige, Perotan. 

The Aidan O'Brien Frankel filly Lost is one tracker I've been looking forward to seeing this season, I do have a few unraced O'Brien 3yos in the trackers but one thing that's on my mind is that looking at his stable tour on Attheraces he doesn't even mention a few of mine, maybe I'm overthinking but it's definitely made me worry, anyway Lost Is sired by Frankel out of dam Queen Cleopatra who won the Group 3 Irish Guineas Trial at Leopardstown back in 2006 for Aidan, a third place in the Irish Guineas followed in what was a short career for the Kingmambo mare. I hope we see a decent effort today. 

Galleria Borghese another O'Brien filly who could be decent in time. Dam On Ice was unraced, second dam Beltisaals offspring include Kingsbarns who was a decent performer for Aidan. 

Osraige for Joseph O'Brien gives me nightmares as I actually backed the Siyouni filly first time out when she had the race in the bag until swerving left in the final furlong.

Perotan for Aidan again. Churchill filly who is a Half-sister to the Mark Johnston trained Matterhorn. At the time of writing no bets but any change I will update the blog before any of the races above start. 

Thanks for reading.

Osraige 3/1 1pt win 2nd

Unraced Three-year-olds To Follow 2022 (Part 2)

1: SAMUEL PEPYS is by Galileo and out of Tiggy Wiggy, trained by Aidan O’Brien. I always remember dam Tiggy Wiggy as being an absolute speed machine who made all and just bombed out the stalls, add Galileo to the mix and we could have a nice type here. Samuel Pepys is a full-brother to a couple of nice O’Brien horses, Southern Cape and Year Of The Tiger. 

2: KING OF TIME is by Kingman and out of Lombatina, trained by Charlie Appleby. The boys in blue could have a nice one here. Dam Lombatina only raced twice, winning first time out. Her offspring include Agrotera for Ed Walker who ran to a decent level winning a Listed race back in 2019, hopefully this Kingman colt can put in a few decent performances this season. 

3: PEROTAN is by Churchill and out of Tanaghum, trained by Aidan O’Brien. Dam Tanaghum has been busy over the years and produced a few nice types, trained by John Dunlop Tanaghum ran to a decent level herself winning a Listed race. One offspring to note is Matterhorn who was a class horse for Mark Johnston. Perotan could be a name to look out for. 

4: DAIQUIRI DREAM is by Dubawi and out of Cocktail Queen, trained by Ralph Beckett and owned by familiar owner Mr J. C. Smith. Dam Cocktail Queen was a decent type back in her day for David Elsworth and produced a nice type trained now by William Haggas called Tom Collins who has performed with credit. Ralph gave Daiquiri a decent entry last season so lets hope he was right. 

5: GALLERIA BORGHESE is by Caravaggio and out of On Ice, trained by Aidan O’Brien. Not much information here but well-thought of by Aidan so that will do for me. 

6: GRACELAND'S GIRL is by Iffraaj and out of Stella Point, trained by Tim Easterby and owned by The Wolf Pack 2 and Partner. Long shot this one. A full-sister to Storting who is a decent sort for Mick Channon. 

7: INSTRUMENTAL is by No Nay Never and out of Strut, trained by Aidan O’Brien and owned by Derrick Smith. I have a few Irish 3yos in the list so I will just throw them in. Dam Strut was a nice type for Roger Charlton and he certainly loves this dam, training four of her offspring including Mince who was a class act back in her day. Plenty of speed in Instrumentals pedigree and another to look out for this season. 

8: IVY LEAGUE is by Galileo and out of Timbuktu, another trained by the all conquering Aidan O’Brien. Dam Timbuktu was average to say the least but has produced one nice offspring named Ontario who came third in a Listed race last year, disappointed after that so will be wary with this Galileo colt. 

9: ZERO CARBON is by Acclamation and out of Clotilde, trained by Richard Hughes. Another one that you may not find in other 3yos to follow this season but it's nice to be different. It took a while for dam Clotilde to come into her own but had a decent season as a 4yo winning a few races over a mile. I will be keeping that in mind when this bay colt makes his debut. 

10: PEARL BORDER is by Ribchester and out of Firth Of Lorne, trained by Charlie Appleby. Pearl Border comes from a class family being a half-sister to Master Of The Seas and Latharnach both trained by Charlie. Another exciting Godolphin 3yo to look out for. 

Times getting on I will note below a few more I will be keeping an eye out for. 

11: CHERUB trained by Aidan O’Brien. 

12: COMET LINE trained by Joseph O’Brien. 

13: COMPERE trained by Dermot Weld. 

14: ELMAFTUN trained by Kevin Prendergast. 

15. SONG OF WAR trained by Aidan O’Brien 

Thanks for reading and look out for my 3yos to follow coming soon.

Read Part 1 Here