Killarney & Newton Abbot – Monday 11th July

Good morning and welcome to a fresh week ahead of us, which is hopefully full of some winners as we encounter one of the great weeks of the summer calendar, which is the Killarney Festival down in Kerry. Spanning through the week with plenty of jumps and flat action to get through, it should be fascinating to see how everything shapes up. However, a small twist to this afternoon’s events means that you’ll not only be getting a flat selection from Killarney, but also two selections from the jumps racing at Newton Abbot. 

I am going to start with Newton Abbot, as that is this afternoon – and start off with their 2.05 race, which is a 2m5f handicap chase for horses rated between 0-120. I am fascinated in this race by the dreadfully out of form but now well handiapped L’Air Du Vent – who returns here off a mark of 114, which is around 25 pounds below peak – which was only a year or so ago. He has not shown much in his last few runs, but he is now under the direct care of Joe Tizzard, who has done well this summer already with some similar types. There must be a level that this horse can go to compete off and I am hoping that this might be it after being given some time off in recent months. At a price of 4/1 generally in this small field, I am hoping he can run well.

The 3.45 race is the second selection from Newton Abbot and it comes in the 2m handicap hurdle and again this looks a competitive division for its grade. I had my fingers stung a few times last season but I am well prepared to have one final spin on the merry-go-round with Sergeant, who may well still be ahead of the assessor if returning in the same form that he carried throughout last season. He does have a bigger weight to contend with than at the start of last year, but he is a strong traveler and this type of track could well play to his strengths. A short run in requires that he must be delivered at the right time, and hopefully Kevin Jones can ride this horse full of confidence and get it right. At a general price of 3/1 across the board, I think he is a fair price. 

And finally, moving over to Killarney for the last selection of the day and it comes in the 6.45 race, which is more than likely the feature handicap of the day over 1 mile. It is hard to know which horses are going to be fully tuned up in this contest, and which will be looking for a good prep run before attacking one of the big handicaps over this distance at Galway in a few weeks. I have decided that Charterhouse should be running for his life this evening, and if repeating some of his best form, would have to be very close in this contest. Despite carrying top weight, he has run well in multiple pattern races over the last few years and despite him not being up to scratch in some of his previous handicap efforts, this represents a much smaller field and one that he should have no issues handling. Scott McCullagh takes a valuable five pounds off his back, and he should be wound up to run well. At a price of 15/2 with SkyBet, who are offering 4 places, he should be backed each way.