Katie Walsh: My picks for the racing this Sunday
The Betway ambassador previews Sunday's racing at Cork and Punchestown.
Cork
Sean O’ Keffee must be in dreamland and must be thanking his lucky stars for putting in the hard work at Closutton! He’s got one hell of a book of rides at Cork on Sunday, and I think he’ll have four winners.
Kilcruit (12:10) could well be the best two-mile novice hurdler we see this season and barring mishap, should take all of the beating in the first division of the maiden hurdle.
Dysart Dyanmo (12:40) is spoken of in glowing terms around Willie’s yard and should win the second division on the maiden hurdle.
He then rides Concertista (13:45) in a novice chase and she was easily the best of these over hurdles and could be too good in mares chases throughout the season.
His fourth ride of the day is on Energumene (14:20) who I think could be the one to beat in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in March. He was superb last season and keeps on winning impressively. If he’s still improving, he could be a superstar!
Punchestown
As I said at the top, this is one hell of a John Durkan Chase. Willie has seven runners in it, but if he ran just one of them, you’d have said they’ve had a great chance. The lowest rated horse is a 153 rated Grade 1 winner. It’s superb. We might not see a better race all season. You could make a case for each and every one of them and I’ve thought about it, I couldn’t even decide which one to ride!
If that isn’t enough for racing fans, we also get to see Ferny Hollow (14:35) make his debut over fences this weekend. He won the Cheltenham Champion Bumper a few years ago and is the only horse to have beaten Bob Olinger. He could be another superstar and could go right to the top over fences. He’s one I can’t wait to see return.
If this weekend doesn’t get your blood bumping, you’re in the wrong game!
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