Fine Rightly To Land Leopardstown Spoils

Punters looking for a big handicap to go to war with will be in seventh heaven come Sunday when Leopardstown stages two such races.

Dressed For Success
One of those is the Coral Chase over 2m5f (3.00pm), where Edward Harty will be hoping Dressedtothenines (6/1) gets in at the bottom of the handicap.

Winner of a Grade 3 novice at Cork last month (2m1f, soft), this 9yo mare stepped into handicap company five days later when beaten 17l at Navan. It’s possible that outing came too soon however, and a 35-day rest since will have freshened her up, though she will need to be good as 9 of the last 10 females to run in this tough handicap were all unplaced.

World To Rule?
Value may therefore lie elsewhere with Rule The World (10/1), who is one of the most consistent chasers in training. Indeed, Mouse Morris’ 9yo made the top three in 16 of his 22 races, including a 9l second in Grade 1 company last month. His second in April’s Irish National shows he handles this kind of race and he looks each-way material.

Also amongst the leading fancies is Stuart Crawford’s improving 8yo Fine Rightly (8/1), a winner of his last three chases.

The last came a month ago when landing a decent handicap at Navan (2m4f, heavy), for which he has been hiked up 7lb, but there looks more improvement to come.

A recent outing has also proven key to winning this race based on past trends.

Coral Chase Trends Summary
Of the last 10 winners…
10 were Irish-bred
10 were males
9 were non-favourites
9 ran during the last 35 days
T Walsh won it twice

Walsh Goes For Win No.3
The fact Ted Walsh won this twice makes his pair Rossvoss and Seabass of interest at 14/1. The latter may be a 13yo, but is only 4lb higher than when winning this race in 2012, and shouldn’t be written off having won over hurdles last month.

You have to go back to 2001 for the last time Willie Mullins won this race, but he has some interesting entries, including Blood Cotil (10/1). Last seen 261 days ago when landing a valuable novice handicap at the Punchestown festival (2m5f, yielding), he can go well following an absence and the market could provide further clues on Sunday.

Consistent Crow To Make A Killing?
Another who could go close is Gordon Elliott’s 7yo Killer Crow (8/1), who is 3lb higher than when second in a valuable handicap at Limerick over Christmas (2m4f, heavy). He will clearly handle the testing conditions at the weekend and a repeat of that last effort would put him thereabouts.

Empire Of Dirt (14/1) however has a bit more to prove having failed to complete three of his last four, but is another who is capable of turning it on.

Recommended Bets
Plenty in the mix, including Fine Rightly, who arrives in top form, will love the forecast heavy ground and is open to more improvement.

*Prices correct at time of publication.