Casey can shine in sun with Otay
Saturday May 30 2009
The dry, sunny spell should help to sort out a soaked area down the back straight at Listowel that caused a 24-hour postponement of the opening session of a three-day Bank Holiday fixture at the Kerry venue.
While tomorrow's jumping card remains subject to a 4.0 inspection this afternoon, confidence is growing in the north of the Kingdom that their amended meeting will proceed to coincide with Writers' Week there.
The sensible move to put Listowel's Flat races back until Tuesday evening means that the National Hunt fraternity are poised to have the Sunday date to themselves, whether at Kilbeggan or, hopefully, at both locations.
Bumper
Family fun day at the Westmeath course, however, is not in any doubt and the going should be ideal, no worse than good to yielding, as manager Paddy Dunican and his committee look forward to welcoming a bumper crowd.
Compared to a fairly average bunch expecting to vie for supremacy at Listowel, there's a sprinkling of decent performers in action at Kilbeggan, with the featured Bloomfield House Hotel Hurdle looking quite competitive.
Run over the intermediate distance of two miles, three furlongs, this even attracted an initial acceptance by champion trainer Willie Mullins of five of his charges from which he's elected to rely solely on Otay Kawn.
With the stable's main pilot Ruby Walsh and his understudy Paul Townend both out through injury, David Casey has been deputising more than capably and he could be on the mark here too aboard Otay Kawn.
Granted this six-year-old has been proving expensive to follow, but he's dropped in class now and will encounter a much better surface that those at Punchestown on which he was placed behind Copper Bleu and Noble Prince.
On the ratings Casey's mount has something to find with year-older Decoy Daddy from the Tony Mullins yard and it would be unwise also to overlook the obvious claims of runaway Clonmel maiden scorer Superior Ben.
Two seasons ago Mullins and his champion amateur son Patrick captured tomorrow's finale with subsequent prolific winner Uncle Junior and they could repeat the dose in this stamina test courtesy of Red Hot Poker.
A close fifth to Kilflora on his debut at Gowran Park, the seven-year-old has not been rushed back to the track and the extra three furlongs here could suit him every bit as much as Noel Meade's charge Lifes Star.
An hour earlier Meade launches Downpatrick maiden hurdle victor Failte Go Deo over the larger obstacles in a Mullingar Beginners Chase that looks well above average, with Earth Magic and Kirbybroguelantern opposing.
The Gloves Are Off and Noble Prize add spice to an interesting affair during which the front-running style of Kirbybroguelantern, having gained valuable chasing experience behind Massini Magic at Limerick, could work a treat.
More than useful when competing on the flat, the Hennessy family's English import Kong and Deputy Consort join Meade's course winner Rocheford Bridge at the head of the weights for the Coola Handicap Hurdle.
As Kong and Deputy Consort have yet to convince over timber and Rocheford Bridge has seemed out of sorts, don't be surprised if the spoils go instead to Seamus and Conor O'Farrell's hitherto luckless No More Prisoners.
- Damien McElroy
