Welcome to this Friday’s Preview which is focused on the Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh. Taking a look back at what’s been on the site over the last few days, I previewed the Derby Trial at Leopardstown on Tuesday where I put Iberia up as my punt. He finished third after the O’Brien outsider Cormorant stole the race from the front under Padraig Beggy. There was a winning punt on the day though which came in the first race on the card when Ennistymon (2/1) got the job done for O’Brien & Heffernan. Three winning punts were also had at Yarmouth on Wednesday, which were shared on the page’s Facebook Story at the beginning of the day. These came in the form of Majestic Noor (3/1), Alphabetical (11/8), and Magical Morning (9/4), Willabell was also narrowly denied into second at 13/8 for Dettori and Gosden.
Like has been the case with the latest posts, I’ll be sharing a win punt and each-way punt for this Irish classic, as well as highlighting who I think are also big players in the race.
Enjoy!
Irish 2000 Guineas
The Irish 2000 Guineas is set to take place at 6.40pm at the Curragh this Friday evening, and the race is headed by the Ger Lyons trained SISKIN who’s to be ridden by Colin Keane. He’s my win punt in the race, and he can be found at a best price of around the 5/2 mark. Winner of all four of his starts to date which culminated in success in the Group 1 Phoenix States here back in August, when he got the better of Aidan O’Brien’s Monarch Of Egypt by just under a length. The question mark for him will be if he gets the mile, but I think he’s every chance of doing so and will prove very hard to beat. He’s also one of my favourite horses in training.
It comes as no surprise that there’s a whole host of Aidan O’Brien runners in against him, the one that has seen the most attention in the market over the last day or so is Lope Y Fernandez as he’s the mount of Seamie Heffernan. This gives the impression that they believe he’s their best chance in the race, and as a consequence, he’s been backed into around 4/1 from double figures. He was behind Pinatubo a couple of times last season at Ascot and Goodwood before claiming a Group 3 on home soil. Another O’Brien runner who sits prominently in the betting is Armory who’s the mount of Wayne Lordan. He’s a Group 2 winner who’s contested Group 1 events when finishing second behind Pinatubo here and third behind Victor Ludorum in France. He does need to bounce back from a 20 length defeat in a match when last seen, also in France.
Like normal I’ve also had an each-way play in the race and in this contest I’ve done that on Jim Bolger’s FISCAL RULES who you can currently find trading at around 16/1. He arrives here having just had the one start to date which came at this track in maiden company back in May where he finished second. The horse that got the better of him close home that day was none other than Aidan O’Brien’s Wichita, who was my each-way punt for the UK 2000 Guineas when he went onto finish second. That’s red hot form for Bolger’s three-year-old and they clearly think a lot of him to pitch him in within this company on just his second outing. Kevin Manning will be in the saddle.
Everything Racing 