Wexford – Friday 1st April

March has finally been and gone and we can look ahead to a fresh month with a fresh mindset and fingers crossed, a few more winners. We had a winning day yesterday and I am hoping to keep that momentum up in Wexford this afternoon. There is one man that is usually not far away from a few winners around his local track, and it is Paul Nolan – and he saddles a few horses with great chances on this card, which I will be siding with. 

Starting off with the 4.00 race, which is a 2m4f maiden hurdle and looks an open contest for its kind. I am sure that connections will be slightly disappointed that Chiricahua has not gone and won his maiden yet after four starts. He has bumped into a few decent horses on his travels, including when being beaten by Ballykeel last time out at Leopardstown, when just being outgunned at the back of the last. He jumped well that day and he should have got a lot of confidence from that performance, and this looks like a contest that might be winnable. One of the major market rivals has been confirmed as a non-runner this morning, which seems to have made his task a bit easier. At a price of 9/4 with Paddy Power, he looks like he has a winning chance. 

The 5.00 race is the 3m rated novice hurdle and this looks like one of the more competitive races of the card with 12 runners all with some sort of chance over this staying trip. There are a few horses in here more unexposed than others though, and I certainly have been intrigued by Rajsalad – who won very nicely last time out and may have some more improvement to come. However, one of his main challengers is the progessive Martha Divine, who won last time out at Punchestown and looks like a mare that could certainly scale to bigger heights in this discipline. She is a strong traveling mare but should be suited by this further step up in trip, and I think she could go very close. At a price of 7/1 with Paddy Power, she should be backed each way. 

And finally, the 5.30 race is the 2m4f novices handicap chase and the clear elephant in the room when it comes to this race is the jumping of Mercury Lane. Having been a progressive hurdler last year, he has not progressed over fences this year as one would have expected, with his jumping leaving a lot to be desired on more than one occasion. However, he is clearly a well handicapped horse and the fact he has finished as close as he has the last twice despite some desperate jumping is grounds for that premise to be correct. Off 115, he should be well able to win a race of this nature and the step back to 2m4f should be of no issue. His jumping does remain one, but as I have said before, I am a forgiving type for my sins – and I hope he can do the business. At 11/4 with Paddy Power, I hope he can put it together.