Tuesday was an excellent day for my picks. At Limerick Concertista won,the 1/2 favourite was 4th after the 6th and disputed 2nd closing in on the leader approaching the straight. She led from 2 out keeping on well on the run-in to beat Darren's Hope by 4 lengths. At Leopardstown Flooring Porter was 2nd. The 16/5 shot was always tracking the leader in a clear 2nd. He made no impression before the last allowing Klassical Dream to win by 2 lengths. In the other big race A Plus Tard was 2nd. The 8/11 favourite was 3rd 2 out and travelled well to lead narrowly before the last. He kept on and was looking at a victory until he was passed in the final strides by Galvin who won by a short head.
The festivals at Limerick and Leopardstown reach their conclusions on Wednesday with another three standout contests, the first is the 1.30 at Limerick where 6 begin the Boylesports Sporting Limerick Hurdle. The top 2 in the field go head-to-head again after meeting in the Fishery Lane Hurdle at Naas last month. Teahupoo came out on top that day by 12 lengths and this smart hurdler should go well again while Quilixios was second but needed the run and is expected to be more of a threat here. The other one in with a chance is Slip Of The Tongue who after winning a maiden hurdle at Tipperary on debut in May returned to be 2nd at Gowran Park 39 days ago. He definitely has more to offer and could challenge so shouldn't be dismissed.
The other two races are both Grade One's at Leopardstown, the first comes at 1.45 when 8 start the Neville Hotels Novice Chase. Run Wild Fred finally opened his fences account when winning the Troytown at Navan 38 days ago. He travelled strongly to win by 7 1/2 lengths and a repeat performance will make him tough to beat. Ontheropes is a smart chaser who was 4th in the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury at the end of last month. That was a below form run but he is a big player here back in novice company for the yard that won this race 12 months ago. The other who demands respect is Vanillier the winner of the Florida Pearl Novice Chase on his second start over fences at Punchestown 45 days ago. He also won the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham by 11 lengths but is still open to progress and could easily win here. The final big race of the festival is at 2.20 when 6 line-up for the Matheson Hurdle. The standout horse here and in my opinion of the festival is Sharjah who is looking to emulate Istabraq and Hurricane Lane by winning this race for a 4th time. After his hat-trick victory last year he was runner-up to Honeysuckle twice and made his reappearance last month taking the Morgiana Hurdle by 3 lengths. He has some good challengers but should win this again. The two horses beaten in the Morgiana complete this shortlist, Zanahiyr was 2nd after an 8 length win in the WKD Hurdle at Down Royal on his season return in October while Echoes In Rain wasn’t seen at her best when finishing 3rd but she is better than that which was shown when she picked up 3 wins in a row last spring including the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown in April and should be closer to the main two this time.
Big race predictions: Limerick: 2: Teahupoo
Leopardstown: 1.45: 7: Run Wild Fred 2.20: 4: Sharjah.
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