Follow Aidan At Magical Naas

For many punters this is a great time of year with the crossover of some high class jump racing and the start of the Flat season and racing fans won’t fall short of opportunities to have a bet this weekend.

Smith To Be On Cloud 9 In Ayr
Vintage Clouds was as short as 11/1 for the Aintree Grand National last week and was well fancied to run well in many quarters, including yours truly, but his race was over at the first fence.

Obviously a quick turnaround from that outing is a bit of a concern but Sue Smith wouldn’t be the type to take any chances and the nine-year-old could be well primed to give a very good account of himself today.

Second to today’s top weight Beware The Bear at Cheltenham, Vintage Clouds was third in this race last year behind Joe Farrell but has been slowly brought to the boil with last week in mind.

While that didn’t go to plan, Vintage Clouds is usually a solid jumper and the more conventional park fences today shouldn’t pose many problems.

If Vintage Clouds can repeat his run at the Cheltenham Festival he should be able to go very close and his price of 9/1 looks appealing.

Hannon Can Make Most Of Opportunity In The Greenham
Even Aidan O’Brien didn’t bother making an entry for the Greenham at Newbury today as Too Darn Hot was all set to start here but a setback in midweek has forced the absence of the Guineas favourite and opened up this notable Group 3 to a much more competitive looking heat.

Cases can be made for a few of these with Hello Youmzain boasting a high rating course and distance winner Mohaather an improver at the back end of last season.

Richard Hannon fires a few of bullets at the race with the unbeaten Urban Icon deserving a second look but it is Boitron who is expected to win this.

A three-time winner last season in England, Boitron went to France for a go at a Group 1 last season and ran well enough when finishing fourth. The Aidan O’Brien-trained Broome was in front of him that day and he didn’t do the form any harm last weekend so hopefully Boitron will be worth following.

Richard Hannon is into double figures for winners over the last three weeks and has certainly done well with his runners on grass so far this campaign and…

it would be fair to expect Boitron to be fairly forward for that engagement.

Follow Aidan At Naas
Naas doesn’t present a lot of betting opportunities today in terms of handicaps but it is a high class card and with three Classic winners on the card there is plenty to look forward to.

Aidan O’Brien had a very slow start to the season but it was at Leopardstown last Saturday where he really made his mark and if his team continue that form on to Naas today he could easily leave with three or four winners.

O’Brien unleashes his first juvenile runner of the season in the opening race and Monarch Of Egypt will be a first runner for American Pharoah as well.

You won’t get rich from the champion trainer today but if punters wanted to get involved you could do worse than sticking Monarch Of Egypt in with Magical in the Group 3 Alleged Stakes.

Magical takes on the Irish Derby winner Latrobe and the Irish St Leger winner Flag Of Honour but the filly should be better suited over the 1m2f trip on this type of ground…

so should oblige under Ryan Moore.

Recommended Bets:
Vintage Clouds (9/1) – 3.35 Ayr
Boitron (3/1) – 2.40 Newbury
Magical – 4.35 Naas

*Prices correct at time of publication.