Burke targets Curragh pay-day

Karl Burke hopes for more success in Ireland when Raptor attempts to atone for an unlucky run in the Lincoln in the Ladbrokes 1800 777 888 Handicap at the Curragh on Sunday.

Burke had a winner at Dundalk earlier in the month and sends over Raptor due to a lack of opportunities in England.

“Raptor didn’t get the rub of the green in the Lincoln,” said the Middleham handler.

“He’d been working exceptionally well with Aahayson, who won the Cammidge, and we fully expected him to run a big race.

“If you go back in his form, wherever Rio Riva and Babodana finished he should have been thereabouts and that would have put him in the places.

“But he got knocked sideways just after a furlong. He lost his position on the rail and ended up in the middle of the track but when we got him home he was great.

“I looked at the programme book and there was nowhere to go with him – it was a last-minute decision to enter for this.

“He’s meeting horses that might not be race fit and he should run well,” he told At The Races.