Cork – Tuesday 28th September

It wasn’t to be at Roscommon yesterday with a couple of near misses and a faller between the three selections. I am dusting myself off and trying to right the wrongs at Cork this afternoon, for a good flat card. There will also be some ante-post selections for this weekend’s action coming out very soon as well – so stay tuned for them!

At Cork, the first race that intrigues me into having a bet is the 3.35, which is a 7 furlong maiden with 14 runners going to post. As per the usual with maidens at this time of the year, plenty of these horses are spying potential handicap marks down the line and some of these just don’t look like they will be up to winning a maiden at this point in time. With that taken into account, and despite a very inflated rating, I do think that this is as good a time as ever for Notre Belle Bete to finally get off the mark for Darren Bunyan and Chris Hayes. 

After a really impressive start to his career, connections will be very disappointed that this horse has not got his head in front at this stage. He has an official rating of 96, which I don’t think is right given his last couple of efforts, but might still give him enough wiggle room to shake off the attention of these rivals today. The step back down to 7 furlongs looks a smart move on this occasion and I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t able to go very close to collecting. At a best price of 11/4 with Bet365, I hope he wins.

The Listed Navigation Stakes over 1m at 4.05 looks a very competitive heat and with 16 runners going to post, it might be a race to look for an each way angle into it. With the favourites currently residing around 5/1, it would indicate just how open a race this is and plenty of these horses could in fact have a very good chance in this sort of race. I am looking back to this time last year for my selection, as I’m hoping that after a promising run at Gowran Park, that Elysium might well take a good hand in this race for Noel Meade. This Group 3 scorer last year was poor on reappearance on ground too quick at Ascot in July, before a decent run in mid-division over a longer trip at Gowran. 1 mile on yielding ground should be right up this fillies street and could be the making of her. At a huge price of 25/1 with Bet365, who offer 4 places, she is an each way bet. 

The final race I will be looking into is the 4.35, which is a 1 mile handicap. A couple of horses that I have backed a few times this year turn up in this race, and I have two selections for this race – both at each way prices. I feel I should be copying and pasting my thoughts on the Dermot Weld trained Baseman – who I have put up for nearly all of his races this year with some contrasting results. He was poor last time out, but I am going to put that down to the lack of cheekpieces, and they are reapplied today. He’s running off a mark of 93 here, which shouldn’t be overly baring and I will be hoping that Chris Hayes has had a brilliant day by steering three winners to victory. At a price of 7/1 with Paddy Power, for 4 places – I’ll be backing each way.

The other horse that should be backed in the 4.35 event is the Ger Lyons trained Hale Bopp – who might just want this return to this C&D to show his best. Having won very impressively here at the start of the season, his form has not progressed how some might have thought it would, and he now returns here on somewhat of a retrieval mission. This race is a lot easier than some of the races he has been encouraging recently and could well be sparked up by the return to this course. Off a mark of 89, and with Colin Keane booked, there are certainly enough positives to be backing him. He is also priced at 7/1 with Paddy Power, and will also be backed each way.