Mysteree Can Defy Big Odds In Eider

If you just want to back a winner this weekend it is probably best to wait for Leopardstown on Sunday where Alisier D’irlande lines up in the novice chase for Henry de Bromhead and Andrew Lynch.

Double Up
Alisier D’Irlande is going to be odds on in this six-runner race and on his penultimate start he took an absolutely crashing fall at Fairyhouse but he showed no ill-effects of that at Naas last time and will win again. Cheltenham looks off his agenda but he’ll be making his mark at Aintree and Punchestown this season I would suspect.

If the odds on available about him is too short for you well it should be a safe enough option to double him up with Aspen Colorado in the concluding bumper on the same card.

Aidan O’Brien’s son of Galileo is the current 8/1 joint favourite with BoyleSports alongside Augusta Kate for the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham next month so you’d have to expect him to follow up his impressive Leopardstown debut win and manage to give weight away to his five rivals, three of which are making their racecourse debut.

Lee-thal Kerry
The Eider Chase at Newcastle is one of the other big races this weekend and while the reports are that the ground is drying out all of the time at Newcastle, this four-miler is still going to take a lot of getting.

The first question to ask yourself looking down through this race is whether or not there’s any point looking beyond Kerry Lee? The Eider is a big staying chase on a Saturday… She wins all of these doesn’t she?

In Russe Blanc (6/1) she has every chance of winning another and continuing the incredible start to her training career.

Russe Blanc caused a 20/1 upset when winning the Classic Chase at Warwick last month and in doing so beat Midnight Prayer by three and a quarter lengths and the runner-up has since come out and won at Exeter a fortnight ago.

Davy Russell takes the trip over to ride top weight Shotgun Paddy (7/1) for Emma Lavelle but I think he is opposable although the more the ground dries out the better he’ll appreciate it.

Play Each-Way
A horse down at the bottom of the weights that I keep getting drawn to is Mysteree (20/1).

Grant Cockburn takes 5lbs off to leave the horse with just 9st12lbs and he just looks like a horse who could well be crying out for this extreme distance. This is a major step up in class for him taking on some of these horses but the eight-year-old was a winner at Newcastle over 2m7f last time and earlier in the season he ran out a 32-length winner of a modest race at Wetherby.

He clearly has a fair level of ability and whether he’s up to this level or not is questionable but at 20/1, with a light weight and appearing like he is crying out to go even further in trip, he is worth considering. I think we’ll all be guilty of backing worse 20/1 shots in our life.

*Prices correct at time of publication.