Nothing Will Touch McManus’ Charge At Fairyhouse

Gordon Elliott has gone for safety in numbers in the BoyleSports Irish Grand National on Monday but on the opening day of Fairyhouse’s Easter fixture, Willie Mullins looks set to land a Grade 1 double with Let’s Dance and Yorkhill.

We look elsewhere for some bets this Easter Sunday.

McManus To Have Easter Feast
Owner JP McManus will go to Fairyhouse with some big chances on Sunday and Grade 1 winner Don’t Touch It can return to winning ways in the BoyleSports Novice Handicap Chase.

The seven-year-old caused a bit of an upset in the Herald Champion Novice Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival last season, a race in which Yorkhill finished behind him, but with plenty of experience under his belt over fences now, Don’t Touch It looks capable of defying top weight and adding another victory over the larger obstacles.

Despite his best form coming over two-miles, which is again the trip on Sunday, you wonder would a race like the Galway Plate be a long term plan for Jessica Harrington’s charge, but the better ground on offer this weekend should be able to play to his strengths, despite the fact that he was a winner on testing Thurles ground earlier in the season.

His best form is definitely on a better surface and he should be able to continue the hot streak of the Gold Cup winning trainer.

A Great View is the McManus first string in the novice handicap chase later on the card and he is a tentative selection for Denis Cullen and Geraghty again onboard.

A Great View is still only a six-year-old and a look through his form throws up some nice efforts, but after getting bogged down on heavy ground at Naas in his handicap debut…

A Great View can put a better foot forward and potentially set up a good day for the green and gold team.

Rewarding Purchase
Red Jack won the first four-year-old bumper of the year at Naas back in January. He was well touted going into the race but so were two or three other horses in the race. Red Jack subsequently drifted out to 10/1 but duly obliged and justified the belief of his connections.

Red Jack had just under three lengths to spare when beating Debuchet that day and the runner-up has certainly gone on to frank the form strongly.

The son of Mahler now carries the colours of JP McManus and what ever the price tag was, the concluding sales bumper on Sunday’s card is worth €59,000 to the winner so that could be a good start for all concerned.

Dorydalis is said to be a nice horse and looked good when winning his point-to-point and is the only other one of the 11 runners to have won under any code, but Red Jack’s form with Debuchet looks bombproof with that horse going to Cheltenham and finishing second to Fayonagh in the Champion Bumper and since returning to win a decent contest at Limerick.

That form is hard to argue with.

Lucky Last At Mallow
Gavin Cromwell’s Raz De Maree is set to take his chance in the BoyleSports Irish Grand National on Monday but the trainer has an interesting runner at Cork on Sunday.

It must be significant that Minella Beau has attracted Patrick Mullins to Cork and that six-year-old has always carried a lofty reputation, while Burren Life has been knocking on the door and will be hard to beat, however, at a price…

Cromwell’s Two In One could be worth siding with.

Two In One has had six runs now so is far from an obvious choice but connections are persisting with bumpers still despite having had two runs over hurdles, the most recent of which saw him run a nice race at Naas at odds of 100/1.

Last month Two In One was beaten 15-lengths in a Navan bumper but the winner that day was Minellafordollars and he is a very nice type so if Two In One can improve for that effort and for a bit of nicer ground and speedier track, he could run a big race and hopefully be there if Minella Beau has any chinks in his armour.

Recommended Bets:
Don’t Touch It (11/8) – 3.25 Fairyhouse
A Great View (11/2) – 4.35 Fairyhouse
Red Jack (6/4) – 5.10 Fairyhouse
Two In One (25/1) – 5.50 Cork

*Prices correct at time of publication.