Kymandjen heading in the right direction
In a wide open contest, in which only a super optimist could be confident about finding the winner, Paul Nolan's Kymandjen gets the vote.
He comes here on the back of an excellent performance in the Paddy Power at Leopardstown, finishing four lengths and ten lengths third behind Keepatem and Jaquouille.
The bare evidence does not flatter him. Despite a tendency to jump to his right throughout, Kymandjen was still in contention coming away from the last.
But he then hung towards the stands and that behaviour helped to exaggerate the final margin of defeat.
It is well to note that the selection has only ever won when travelling in today's direction, right-handed.
Jack High was fourth in the Paddy Power and Livingstonebramble fifth and both have to be on the short-list.
There are several other possibilities, including the lightly-weighted pair, Numbersixvalverde and Tell Me See.
Old Flame gets the nap to take the Irish Stallion Farms' EBF Novice Chase, despite the fact he has failed to complete in his last two races.
On his latest appearance, Old Flame made a dreadful blunder at the second, in the contest won by ill-fated Dizzy's Dream at Naas, and was quickly pulled up.
But he is essentially a reliable jumper, capable of going a swinging gallop from the start, so let's trust Ruby Walsh to get it right on this occasion.
The Grade Three Alo Duffin Memorial Galmoy Hurdle promises a fascinating tussle between the experienced Emotional Moment and the up-and-coming Homer Wells. The latter is clearly a horse for the future and has won three in-a-row. But this will only be his fifth ever race over jumps and preference is for Emotional Moment, who looked right back on song when beating Yogi by a distance at Leopardstown.
Scolboa Rainbow, who created a big impression when scoring by 13 lengths at Thurles, is the choice in the Bumper.
