group race in Ireland

as is so often the case on a Sunday, the cards in the U.K. today are very poor, and the best sport comes from Ireland, where there is a Group Three for fillies over 9 1/2 furlongs at 16.55 CET at Gowran Park. Scintillula (Jim Bolger/ Kevin Manning) is the form choice here, but she has been kept very busy (this is her 9th start in 3 months) and she is penalised for winning a similar race over this distance at Leopardstown in July. Aloof (David Wachman/ Wayne Lordan) won this race last year at 12-1, while Caponata (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen) was a hot favourite but ran badly. However we prefer the 3yo´s and go for British raider Mango Diva (Sir Michael Stoute/ Johnny Murtagh), the form of whose listed win at Salisbury looks good enough in this context. We don´t fancy the Aidan O´Brien runner here, but he should certainly take the opening 2yo maiden at 14.55 with John Constable (Joseph O´Brien). This own brother to last week´s St. Leger winner Leading Light is making his debut here, but we don´t believe O´Brien would start him off unless he felt that he could win first time out.
The only flat racing in the U.K. is at Hamilton. Mark Johnston, who was born nearby and is in great form, always likes to have winners here and can land a double with Pigeon Pie at 125.20 and Discay at 17.50, both ridden by Joe Fanning, while Monakova (David O´Meara/ Danny Tudhope) can defy a huge rise in the weights and complete a fourtimer in the fillies 6 furlongs handicap at 16.20.
Tjhere is N.H. racing at Plumpton and Uttoxeter, with AP McCoy likely to ride some winners at the latter track. However our main fancy over jumps is ex-German Lyssio (Jim Best/ Jamie Moore) in the 2 mile handicap hurdle at 17.00 at Plumpton. Although he failed to live up to expectations on the flat for Peter Schiergen, this Ittlingen-bred has found his metier over hurdles, and although this is quite a decent race, still seems very nicely handicapped.


Betting forecast:
1. Race: John Constable - Cheeky Chappie - Abushamah
2. Race: Ava Star - Fine Cut - Odisseia
3. Race: Valley Queen - Maal - Elusive Gent
4. Race: New Regalia - Liberty`S Gift - Liberty To Rock
5. Race: Scintillula - Caponata - Mango Diva
6. Race: Carenza - Nymph - Teochrios
7. Race: Waver - Indian Icon - Protestant
8. Race: Like A Diamond - Brannigan`s Law - Wexford Opera