There’s Group 1 action in store at the Curragh on Sunday and on what looks like a competitive card our Racing Editor has identified three big-priced selections that can outrun their odds. Check these out below, along with SBK‘s new customer offer of £30 in Free Bets when you deposit £10.
SWIFT FLIGHT – (2:40, Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes Handicap) 8/1
There’s a fair bit of rain forecast at the Curragh overnight, up to 13mm depending upon which weather forecast you see, and that has the potential to dramatically change going conditions. One horse who will appreciate every drop that falls is SWIFT FLIGHT, who is in action on the card’s 6f handicap.
Ken Condon’s sprinter is a homebred of owner Robert Ng, and a relation to the same connections very smart Success Days, who appreciated plenty of cut in the ground.
Swift Flight himself showed a proficiency for a slow surface when running away with a Tipperary maiden in October.
His form figures here at the Curragh currently read 6432, with the sixth coming in a maiden won by the now 111-rated Van Gogh. All three subsequent runs here have come in handicaps, most recently in March when only just failing to run down Laugh A Minute – who runs in the Rockingham later on this card.
A designated hold-up performer, Swift Flight will need to be smuggled into this by rider Joey Sheridan, but the expected slow ground should help him, and if the leaders do go quick this should set up nicely late on.
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MAKE A CHALLENGE – (3:10, Paddy Power Rockingham Handicap) 50/1
Backing a sprinter that was beaten 36l last time out admittedly won’t be most punter’s cup of tea, but the case for Denis Hogan’s MAKE A CHALLENGE is that he has an otherwise excellent record here at the Curragh and appreciates a slow surface.
The 7yo is often seen contesting pattern races as opposed to handicaps, with this his first run at this level since he blitzed a premier handicap over course and distance back in September 2019.
That impressive 6l victory came off a mark of 94, and although Make A Challenge runs off 10lb higher here 7lb of that is negated by his apprentice rider’s claim, so in actual fact, he is only a couple of pounds above that winning mark.
If you can forgive his poor reappearance, possibly on the fact that it was Make A Challenge’s first start in over ten months, there’s no way that he should be as big as 50/1 for this assignment. It is also worth mentioning that at the time of that comeback run his stable was going through a real cold spell, with the yard an incredible 0-63 with their runners in May, but having sent out winners over both hurdles and on the flat in June, it’s safe to assume that they’re through that now.
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CHOCOLAT BLU – (4:50, Barberstown Castle Irish EBF Median Auction Maiden) 20/1
Unusually for a mile Curragh maiden, this doesn’t appear to be a very strong race, and at the prices, it can pay to take a chance on CHOCOLAT BLU.
Andrew Slattery’s filly has been travelling well through her races but not quite seeing it out at the business end. She hit the front two furlongs out in an extended 1m1f Gowran handicap earlier this month and from that position, it would have been hard to believe that she’d ultimately only finish fifth (beaten over 7l).
On that showing it’s no real surprise that connections drop her back to a mile, and the addition of a first-time tongue-tie also looks potentially beneficiary. As recently as April Chocolat Blu was fourth in a Naas maiden behind a trio of Coolmore horses, and on her start prior to that (debut), she was fifth at Cork, with the four horses directly ahead of her that day now rated 87, 90, 86 and 93 respectively.
If she can get back to somewhere near that level today it wouldn’t be a shock to see her go close. It is particularly interesting that connections revert to maiden company with a handicap mark of 72 certainly looking within reach.
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