Irish racing tips: Tony Keenan preview and best bets for the Curragh

Irish racing tips: Sunday November 3

0.5pts e.w. Mile End in 1.25 Curragh at 22/1 (Paddy Power 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) - 20/1 minimum

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

The flat turf season wraps up at the Curragh this afternoon, and it is no easy task for punters with 137 runners on the card (not including reserves!), five of the races having fields of 18 or more.

One of those big fields is the Listed Curragh On Course Bookmakers Finale Stakes at 3:35 where the 117-rated Hamish is a classier type that one would typically see on a card like this. There is a case to be made that he is a fair price at odds-against having chased home Kyprios by less than a length on his last run at this track and he looked back to that sort of form when running Goliath to a similar distance last time.

The better handicaps are deeply competitive, but new trainer Stephen Thorne has chances of a breakthrough winner in both. Laugh A Minute (runs in the 1:55) started the season well for Ado McGuinness on slow ground, rating as high as 98, but dropped in the weights while running on faster going for Jack Davison in summer before coming back to life on his first start for Thorne last time at Navan.

That run came off 82, a lowly mark for a horse that was competitive in premier handicaps all through 2023, and he should be well-suited by the pace of this race with a number of front-runners engaged, though the market has found him by this point.

Gleneagle Bay (runs in the 2:25) is having his first start for Thorne but could hardly have run much better on debut in these colours when a narrow second in the Sovereign Path, making a sweeping move from midfield to lead a furlong from home only to be caught by one that was ridden a long way back off an overly strong pace.

He looks well-treated on that form, especially with that form working out (four of the first 12 from that race have won since) though slower ground is an unknown.

The BusinessPlus.ie Handicap at 1:25 is a tough race but MILE END may be worth a small each-way play. She was well-suited by soft ground as a two-year-old with Johnny Murtagh, winning a nursery here at the backend, and after a spell with Michael Bell returned to be trained in Ireland by Ciaran Murphy.

Her yard was quiet for much of this year so the selection’s initial runs can be forgiven but they have returned to form lately with four winners since the start of October, including this filly winning at Bellewstown at the start of that period.

She defeated a pair of course specialists then despite returning from a break and has shaped better than the result on her last two starts at this track over a six furlong trip that is short of her best. She met significant trouble on the first of those when running back three days after Bellewstown before looking to hit the front too soon last time, leading two furlongs out and only run out of places late on.

The expectation is that she will be ridden from behind today and while luck in running will be important, she remains on good mark and the step up to seven furlongs is a plus.

In the closing race, the Rockshore Maiden at 4:10, Royal Entry looks slightly overpriced for all she has some quirks with the step up to 12 furlongs for the first time since debut a positive.

She shaped well behind Duraji at Leopardstown in June and again when off a break here on her penultimate start, her rider having to use her up early from a wide draw and forced to race well off the rail and while that is a possibility again today from stall 23, she holds decent form claims for all that Jetara is a formidable rival that is fit from a recent hurdles win.

Preview posted at 0908 GMT on 03/11/2024

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