Cork and Fairyhouse tips: Shantreusse can make his experience count

Sat, 08 Jan, 2022 - 06:00

Tommy Lyons

Bumper winner Shantreusse can get off the mark over hurdles in the Happy New Year From All At Cork Maiden Hurdle, the third race on this afternoon’s card in Mallow.

Trained by Sam Curling when winning his bumper at Clonmel, he made his debut for Henry de Bromhead in a maiden hurdle at Punchestown and ran a superb race to finish second to Mr Fred Rogers, who gave the form a boost when winning a novice hurdle two runs later.

Shantreusse jumped well that day and may have been a shade unlucky as he and the eventual third, Barbary Master, sprinted for home before the turn into the straight and went hard at it before getting picked off by the winner, who was outpaced initially but stayed on best of all.

Much to the credit of Shantreusse, he won the battle for second and certainly was not stopping as he raced to the line. The step up to three miles on this softer ground should be no problem for the promising sort, and he can make his experience count against another promising sort, Corbeau. The latter caught the eye in defeat on his only outing in a bumper, almost 10 months ago, and looks a smart prospect going jumping. Fantasio D’alene and Mahler Allstar, who is having his first run for Jimmy Mangan, are the others worth noting.

The Willie Mullins-trained Adamantly Chosen will be a short price to take the Corkracecourse.ie Maiden Hurdle and should get the job done. He was a narrow winner of a Punchestown bumper which has worked out well and found only Gringo D’aubrelle too good when showing signs of greenness on his hurdling debut in late November at Fairyhouse.

That was a smart effort at a time when the stable was just beginning to find top form and with that run under his belt, he ought to be far too good for today’s rivals.

Ebasari, who was a six-race maiden on the Flat, makes his hurdling debut for Gordon Elliott and is worth a check in the betting.

On tomorrow’s card in Fairyhouse, Britzka can give Gordon Elliott a fourth win in five runnings of the Fairyhouse January Jumps Hurdle. Modest on the level, he made a winning start to his hurdling career when running away with a juvenile hurdle over course and distance.

He then posted a solid effort to take third place in the Grade Two won by stablemate Fil Dor despite making a bad mistake at the second-last. There is more to come from the youngster, and he can lead home an Elliott one-two by getting the better of Iberique Du Seuil.

The Irish Stallion Farms EBF Beginners’ Chase is one of the more interesting races on the card and Thedevilscoachman can make his experience count against Saint Sam.

The former was a decent hurdler and made a promising start to his chasing career when an eye-catching third behind Ferny Hollow and Coeur Sublime. A repeat of that effort would give him strong claims but with improvement likely he ought to be hard to beat.

Saint Sam isn’t the biggest of horses, but he showed plenty of scope over hurdles and appeals as just the type to make the grade over the larger obstacles.

He didn’t manage to earn a winning bracket last season but there were numerous fine efforts in defeat, including when runner-up to Jeff Kidder in the juvenile handicap at the Cheltenham Festival. Conditions will be very much in his favour, and he must be given maximum respect.

CORK

Tommy Lyons

12:30 Ferdia

1:03 Adamantly Chosen

1:38 Shantreusse (nap)

2:13 Bois De Clamart

2:48 Exciting Oscar

3:23 R’evelyn Pleasure

3:58 Henning

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