Irish tips: Nyla Rua poised to make breakthrough at Killarney

Henry de Bromhead has a strong hand in the Irish Examiner Handicap

Tue, 12 Jul, 2022 - 07:30

Tommy Lyons

Day two of Killarney’s July festival and Nyla Rua gets the nap to take the Executive Helicopters Handicap for Tom McCourt.

The three-year-old filly was well beaten on her first two starts of last season but showed a much greater degree of promise on her third start when she finished fifth behind Simply Glorious in a Dundalk maiden.

She stayed there for her nursery debut and again showed a degree of promise with her sixth-place finish behind Chaos Control.

Off from November until her return in a handicap last month at Bellewstown, she was slowly away from her high draw and no better than second-last for much of the race.

She had no chance in that big field but was noted making significant late headway into fifth place behind The Pargey Bee and it’s fair to say she didn’t have a hard race. She is entitled to take a sizable step forward for that outing and with Colin Keane booked once more, she can make the breakthrough.

Clarinbridge finished in front of her at Bellewstown but may struggle to confirm the form, and thus handicap debutant Rules Of Attraction is feared more.

Henry de Bromhead has a strong hand in the Irish Examiner Handicap, with little to separate his two runners, Harry’s Legacy and Lynwood Gold. Marginal preference is for the former as he has a fitness edge and his two runs this season mark him down as a progressive four-year-old.

On return, he found only the well-handicapped Unanswered too good, and he duly went one better when getting on top late in a 15-furlong race at Leopardstown.

The extra couple of furlongs of today’s race should prompt further improvement and if he can keep a lid on his enthusiasm through the early stages, he will be very hard to hold.

Lynwood Gold has long been a talented sort but the now seven-year-old hasn’t always been able to convert that into wins on his card.

However, two of his wins when trained in the UK were on fast ground, which he is likely to encounter today, and with fitness unlikely to be an issue on his first run since October, he must be respected.

Ms Eagleton, who made a much-deserved breakthrough when winning a maiden last time out, at Ballinrobe, can follow up by making a winning handicap debut in the GMB Handicap.

Hilary McLoughlin’s filly was unraced at two and three but showed real promise in each of her first three starts before getting her turn last time. An opening mark of 71 doesn’t look too harsh for the promising sort, and she can take this at the expense of Blackpoint, who is interesting on his return from more than a year off.

KILLARNEY

Selections

5:30 Secret Rock

6:00 Nyla Rua (nap)

6:30 Ms Eagleton (NB)

7:00 Harry’s Legacy

7:30 Chilled Out

8:00 Onameridance

8:30 San Salvador

Next best

5:30 Compere

6:00 Rules Of Attraction