Bose Ikard To Catch The Eye At Troytown

Investors looking for a Sunday punt will be licking their lips at the prospect of Navan’s seven-race card, in which the feature race is the historic Troytown Handicap Chase over 3m (2.25).

While at first glance this superb handicap looks a tough one to crack, the fact nine of the last 10 Troytown winners returned at 12/1 or shorter means it could prove wise sticking to those at the fancied end of the market.

One such runner forecast to be around the 12/1 mark is Noel Meade’s, Bose Ikard (12/1), who finished 1l in front of Back Off Mate at Limerick last time, keeping on strongly to be beaten just 1l.

Good ground suits him well, and his chance will increase if the rain stays away.

Also amongst the fancied runners is Arthur Moore’s, Back Off Mate, who has been in good form in 2014, including an excellent 2l fourth in a similar valuable handicap at Limerick last month (3m, good). Already a winner on soft ground, Back Off Mate has to be feared as his recent fourth was a career best and he has improvement to come – for the record, all bar one of the last Troytown winners raced during the last 45 days.

Trends Summary
Of the last 10 Troytown Chase winners:
10 made the top 3 during their last three runs – others were 0-38

10 experienced 10 handicap chase runs or fewer – 0-49

9 ran during last 45 days – others were 1-44

9 returned 12/1 or shorter – others were 1-91

9 ran over 3m or shorter last time

8 carried 10st7b or lower

One who may be found out for fitness is the second top weight, My Murphy (16/1), an 8yo who has not been seen since being pulled up in the Irish Grand National back in April. Prior to that he won a valuable handicap chase over Sunday’s C&D, and he has the ability if ready on this reappearance.

Fitness won’t be a problem for the 9yo Black Benny (14/1), who won a decent handicap chase at Galway last month (2m6f, yielding). His chance will increase if the ground dries out off a reasonable weight of 10st13lb.

Also on a decent weight of 10st7lb is the 2011 winner of this race, Groody Hill (14/1), who races off just 3lb higher at the weekend than three years ago. Christy Roche’s 8yo has not had much racing since that famous win (just five runs), but showed he was no back number by winning a handicap hurdle three weeks ago. Considering that was his first outing since January, he should be cherry-ripe over conditions he handles well.

But, you can never dismiss a Tony Martin runner in these big handicaps, and Living Next Door (12/1) has attracted money since betting for this race opened. While only 1-11 over fences, he was beaten only 3l in a Listed chase at Cheltenham in March (4m4f, good to soft), prior to catching the eye when keeping on over an inadequate 2m when switched back to hurdles a few weeks ago.

Martin also has Wrong Turn (16/1) lurking at the lower end of the weights off 10st1lb, though, and this 8yo was also given a spin over hurdles earlier in the month. A handicap chase winner in the mud over 2m5f last term, it will be interesting if any money arrives for him on the day.

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While the Tony Martin are respected, the forecast sunshine could dry out the ground enough for Noel Meade’s, Bose Ikard, who has the ideal trends profile and caught the eye in his prep race last month.