Cross Channel Double A Close Shave For Harrington

If you can’t enjoy this weekend of racing you are definitely following the wrong sport.

Between Cheltenham and Punchestown there’s some fantastic races to look forward to and hopefully class will come out to the top in the big one at Cheltenham.

Top Weight To Come Out On Top
Harry Fry has been firing in winners at just over a 30 per cent strike rate over the last couple of weeks and on his debut for the yard Kylemore Lough can give Fry his biggest winner of the season so far.

Kylemore Lough was a Grade 1 winner as a novice for Kerry Lee when winning the Ryanair Gold Cup at Fairyhouse last year and he could just prove to be well handicapped in this sort of company.

Le Prezien could prove to be the gamble in the race as there’s a lot of confidence around that horse but Noel Fehily sounded bullish when talking about the chances of Kylemore Lough as he reported his work and schooling to have gone well and he looks to be…

a horse with the type of profile that could defy top weight in this calibre of race.

Old Partnership Reunited
Jessica Harrington and Barry Geraghty team up again at Cheltenham where they’ve enjoyed so much success together and although this is a lower profile meeting, the concluding mares bumper looks a real good race.

Harry Fry and Noel Fehily team up with the promising Outofthisworld but a chance is taken on Holding Pattern who looks overpriced at 10/1.

The daughter of Teofilo really caught the eye when sprinting clear to win on debut and she wasn’t beaten that far a couple of weeks ago in what looked a good race and if she hadn’t of overraced that day she could have finished a bit closer again.

The price looks too big.

Cross Channel Double
The hope from this corner is that Holding Pattern could be the second leg of a cross channel double for Jessica Harrington who has a strong chance with Close Shave in the handicap chase at Punchestown.

Mark Walsh rides Close Shave for owner JP McManus and although running off a much higher rating than his hurdle mark was, Close Shave could well be a horse that progresses into a much higher rated chaser. If that is to be the case he’ll need to be winning today off a nice weight of 10st7lbs.

Recommended Bets:
Close Shave (6/1) – 1.10 Punchestown
Kylemore Lough (6/1) – 2.25 Cheltenham
Holding Pattern (10/1) – 4.00 Cheltenham

*Prices correct at time of publication.