10.45am Fakenham and Yarmouth abandoned
Snow will prevent racing at these two tracks today, but Redcar and Huntingdon go ahead after early inspections. Tips to follow.
12.30pm Irish National preview
Opposition to Irish National favourite Royal County Star has pushed him out to bigger than 5-1 on Betfair, which makes him a very attractive proposition.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not one of those who likes to row in with every perceived 'good thing' from the Tony Martin yard. Martin is a very talented trainer but his impact on high-profile handicaps is overstated by the media. We hear all about it when he wins such a race but there are plenty of misses as well, including four well-backed runners at the recent Cheltenham Festival.
Some of these gambles can only be based on an unquestioning faith in Martin's ability. Robin Du Bois had very little to recommend him ahead of the Pertemps Final, and yet he was sent off joint-favourite before finishing 30 lengths down the field.
That's not how it is with Royal County Star (3.55), whose record in handicap chases is 21U1. The '2' came over an inadequate two miles, while the 'U' may well have been a '1' but for an unfortunate mistake at the second-last.
Of course, a similar mistake would mean curtains in a race as competitive as this but that looks like an aberration and it's hard to find a serious flaw in this one's makeup. The same cannot be said of most of his rivals. Well Run has a similarly progressive profile and is most feared but most of Noel Meade's runners have been below their best since the New Year and this is a race in which a horse needs to be at concert pitch.
There are five cards in Britain today, despite those two abandonments, but the combination of early-season Flat racing and fag-end jump racing is pretty unappealing, particularly as all of it is of very low quality. What happened to decent racing on Easter Monday?
One interesting runner is Cecilia's Lass (2.55) in the two-year-old race at Warwick. The most expensive in the field, she's the first runner out of a dam who won over six furlongs at two, albeit not on her debut. Alan Munro is an interesting booking for a small, start-up yard and there's been a fair bit of support for her this morning. You can still get almost 9-1 on Betfair.
4.05pm Hear The Echo wins Irish National at 33-1
Trainer Mouse Morris wins his first Irish National with Hear The Echo, an impressive winner, despite running from half a stone out of the handicap. Ante-post hotpot Royal County Star, who drifted to 6-1 joint-favourite, appeared to be cantering in second as they turned for home but failed to see out the trip as well as Hear The Echo.
The other placed horses were Notre Pere (12-1) and A New Story (25-1).
As for the day's other tip, Cecilia's Lass sat in the stalls for about a minute after the others had left, but in truth she didn't look much of a worldbeater when she got moving and was beaten out of sight.
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