Friday 7th May - Downpatrick Jumps - Cork Flat

I had to check my calendar to make sure it actually was Friday. And then I had to check the crate of beer, only three cans left, to make sure I don't spend another day sedated come 7.30. Instead of cans there's an early enough meeting at Downpatrick, jumps, from 1.50. Then from 4.35 there's a flat meet in Cork (flat racing is, however, bloody stupid.)

All in all it's lining up to be an action packed weekend, however, like today both Saturday and Sunday have two Irish cards, one jumps and one flat. I really need a trip to the racecourse to get it all out of my system. This daily racing is slowly bleeding me of the impact of what's going on. A big ol' blow-out in Mallow or something might set me right for a week.

With all that said...

Downpatrick
2.20 Celtic Dancer 9/1 ew (enhanced) 4 places
You have to go back a while to find form over hurdles, back to 2019, where the horse has done quite well before being sent chasing. Its third in its last outing shows it might still have that ability.

3.20
Paula’s Prayer 13/2 ew 3 places
Wins under their belt, sometimes on slightly heavier ground over just a little shorter distance. Their ability to lead out and finish on that ground gives me a bit of confidence for this where both should combine over just that furlong extra and slightly faster ground.

3.50
Nabraska 10/1 ew 3 places
A real bunch of plodders in this chase. There’s a reason there’s only two shorter price favourites. Cantkidakidder has some respectable places but it looks like they need a few runs to get even into those places. Fly De Megaudais has some OK (in poor races) hurdle results, but never really showed they could win. I’m going with Nabraska, a horse off for almost two years, who might just be able to upset things on their comeback.

4.25 Wake Up Early 11/2
Going through the form there’s a lot of horses that have either never showed anything, or if they’ve showed some ability their results are littered with mistakes. In a matter of elimination Wake Up Early has been the most solid competitor with fewest mistakes and shown some ability. If another horse runs a race without mistakes it can be beaten (as reflected by its odds) but its consistency has to be a mark in its favour.

And with that I wish you all a jolly's day racing.