The opening day of Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival headlines Saturday’s racing. Andrew Mount goes across the cards for his best bets.
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Posted: 3.52pm, Friday, January 31st
2.17 Musselburgh – AFADIL (1pt win – 4/1 bet365) & NORMAN FLETCHER (0.5pt e/w – 14/1 William, ¼ 1,2,3)
AFADIL won this race last year and also landed the Listed juvenile hurdle at this meeting in 2023. Paul Nicholls’ six-year-old is 4lb lower this time around after a string of defeats but he shaped well at Ascot in his first two runs this term and can be forgiven his comprehensive defeat at Southwell last time as Olive Nicholls never left the ‘swamp’ on the inside rail.
Like Afadil, NORMAN FLETCHER raced in the deep stuff on the inside of the track at Southwell on New Year’s Day, pulling up despite starting at just 5-1 (Afadil was 9-2 in the same race). That run is safe to ignore, and all is best form is on sharp tracks. The market looks to have over-reacted to his latest performance and he’s worth a bet too.
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2.50 Musselburgh – MARBLE SANDS (2pt win – 5/1 Paddy Power, 9/2 generally)
Several of the runners like to race up with the early pace and that’s going to boost the chance of MARBLE SANDS, who will appreciate the return to a right-handed track after his nine-length runner-up effort to the progressive Springwell Bay on unsuitably soft going at Cheltenham last time. The David Killahena and Graeme McPherson-trained nine-year-old has won just once from 13 starts on left-handed tracks but has form figures in today’s direction of 15222111P161 (6-12) for a profit of £25.84 to a £1 level stake at SP. Those wins include one in the novices’ limited handicap chase at this two-day meeting last year and a similarly easy win at Carlisle in November, his only two right-handed runs in the past year.
3.57 Musselburgh – BOOMSLANG (1.5pt win – 4/5 bet365)
BOOMSLANG did this column a favour when scoring over the extended 2m4f in a fast time here on New Year’s Day, a run that took his record on right-handed tracks over fences to 111 (3-3), with the other wins at Downpatrick and Carlisle. The Carlisle victory – on his penultimate start – came over the extended 3m trip and today 2m7.5f looks ideal. This hold-up performer is not guaranteed to encounter the strong pace he prefers but he drops in grade and is likely to prove hard to beat.
Andrew Mount’s Best Bets
2.17 Musselburgh – AFADIL (1pt win – 4/1 bet365) & NORMAN FLETCHER (0.5pt e/w – 14/1 William, ¼ 1,2,3)
2.50 Musselburgh – MARBLE SANDS (2pt win – 5/1 Paddy Power, 9/2 generally)
3.57 Musselburgh – BOOMSLANG (1.5pt win – 4/5 bet365)
Andrew Mount’s tips for Saturday, 1st February 2025
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