Irish flat season opens today

The Irish flat season starts today with a very competitive card at the Curragh on soft/ heavy going. These races are essential viewing with regard to the future, but they are very difficult to bet on today, with most runners coming off a break of several months. Some of course have been in action at the all-weather track at Dundalk, and others have been jumping, and these might have a slight fitness advantage. Experience has shown that Tommy Stack and Jim Bolger are two trainers who often start the season with a bang, while our Irish colleague is keen on Paul Deegan´s runners, as the trainer boasts a 75% strike rate at Dundalk this year. He especially likes Srucahan (Jamie Spencer) in the 6 furlongs handicap at 16.10 CET; he won the race last year off a higher mark, obviousy goes well over CD on this ground and with the stable in such good form looks an interesting each way bet in a very open race.

The card opens with a 5 furlongs race for 2yo´s won by Jim Bolger for the past 3 years, including with subsequent Derby winner Dawn Approach in 2012. He has 2 runners here with his stable jockey Kevin Manning on Alertness, but with nothing to go on and several well-bred opponents, we would rather wait and watch. Main event is the Group Three Park Express Stakes for fillies over a mile at 16.40 and all the top trainers have runners. Wannabe Better (Stack/ Wayne Lordan) is top-rated after winning 3 races over this distance last year, but 3yo´s have a very good record here: Dance With Another (Aidan O´Brien/ Colm O´Donoghue) just held Achnahas (Deegan/ Spencer) last October and they could both be involved, as well as Vote Often (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen).

Big betting race is the Irish Lincolnshire at 17.40. Johnny Murtagh rode the last 2 winners and will now be hoping to win the race as a trainer with We´ll Go Walking (Niall McCullagh), although he admits the distance may be on the short side. She has been running in black type events, but so have the other runners here with high weights. We will take a chance on Cheval Rouge (Harry Rogers/ Danny Grant), who was runner-up here last year and seems well handicapped; he is drawn 1, but whether that is a positive or not is impossible to say at the time of writing.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Alertness - Initial - Beach Belle
2. Race: The Islander - Rousayan - Aerialist
3. Race: Great Minds - English Deer - Sun On The Run
4. Race: Wannabe Better - Vote Often - Dance With Another
5. Race: Pixie Hollow - Go For Goal - Master Of Time
6. Race: Stuccodor - Afonso De Sousa - Trail Blaze
7. Race: Belisarius - Alkasser - Table Rock