Again, my apologies for the thread not going live last night for Thursday's racing. Thankfully, I'm over the worst of my second case of COVID-19, and hopefully I don't encounter it again!
I don't think I missed much in terms of quality racing yesterday, as it was pretty dire stuff from start to finish.
Cairnzy's Tips
Monkstown 1/1 – Dundalk 7.30
My main selection on Friday comes from Dundalk, which is a course that I've tended to avoid, but in recent times it has brought me some success with my selections.
My main fancy from the meeting is Aiden O'Brien's Monkstown, who isn't the most exciting of prices at even money, but I think the price should shorten overnight, and I thought there could be value to be had with the current price of even money.
O'Brien and Moore team up at Dundalk with two selections on Friday, one of which is a debutante that I wouldn't get involved with at odds on, but Monkstown has at least had a run under the belt, and there were plenty of positives to take from the performance. My selection finished third on debut at the Curragh over 7f despite running green, but he did make some nice strides when entering the business end, and he is more than entitled to step forward from the run, which most of Aiden's runners tend to do at the start of the flat season.
Notably, Aiden O'Brien has tended to target this particular race, and he has a great record in doing so, winning six out of the last eight renewals.
Out Out 10/3 – Ayr 4.58
The Ayr Scottish Grand National meeting commences on Friday, and trainer Dan Skelton has a handful of good chances on Day 1. The horse that I fancied the most was Out Out, who is one of his few selections that doesn't have Harry Skelton on board.
Harry Atkins gets a leg up for this particular ride, and I thought he had a good chance on Out Out in registering another win on his CV. My selection didn't show a whole lot in his first few outings for Dan Skelton, but his most recent second at Huntingdon was definitely a step in the right direction. Furthermore, the form of that second reads quite well, and I thought it was one of the better form lines on offer in this contest. The eventual winner Benvoy followed up to win a Class 2 contest at Ascot by over 10L on good ground and is now rated 118. Given my selection finished just under 2L behind when the pair met, I'd assume the form is strong enough to make Out Out a big contender in this sphere.
GambleAware