16.55pm – Mares Handicap Chase (Grade C)
TOP WEIGHT EMILY Gray is a proven jumper with plenty of heart but it is hard to fancy her chances when she is giving away a minimum of 12 pounds to the rest of the field.
Bonny Kate, who was pulled up before the third-last fence when the 13/2 favourite in the Irish Grand National last month, is back competing against her own sex and looks an attractive option here. The drop in class and distance should be to the liking of Noel Meade’s six-year-old.
Solita and Perfect Promise should not be discounted.
17.30 – Champion Hurdle (Grade 1)
Most of the attention in the one will likely be on Willie Mullins’s incredible mare Vroum Vroum Mag.
Mullins courted controversy at Sandown last weekend when the seven-year-old was withdrawn following Mullins’s concession of the British Trainers’s Championship to Paul Nicholls. He was fined £1000 for his troubles but that is history now.
His unbeaten mare was a late replacement for Annie Power, stablemate and fellow star of owner Rich Ricci’s.
While Vroum Vroum Mag’s record of nine wins from nine starts speaks for itself, the drop in trip may open the door for My Tent Or Yours, who finished second to Annie Power at Cheltenham and Aintree. Henry de Bromhead’s Identity Thief is another talented operator and these three look a class above the rest.
18.05 – Champion Novice Hurdle (Grade 1)
Gigginstown House Stud will have their eyes on glory in this one with two strong contenders in Mullins’s A Toi Phil and Noel Meade’s Disko.
Pre-race favourite Jer’s Girl may be up against the big boys but she looks capable of claiming the win here on the back of an impressive performance at Fairyhouse. Gavin Cromwell’s four-year-old will be ridden by the in-form Barry Geraghty and gets a generous age and sex allowance (18lbs) in this Grade 1.
It will be Disko’s first appearance on the track since November, when the five-year-old won by 29 lengths in a maiden hurdle at Naas. But inexperience may count against him here. A Toi Phil, who Bryan Cooper decided to ride over Disko, will likely be heavily involved in the business end of this race.
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