Irish racing tips: Tony Keenan preview and best bets for Tipperary on Sunday

Irish racing tips: Sunday October 6

1pt win Old Bill Barley in 4.15 Tipperary at 5/1 (General)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Tipperary hosts its traditional Arc Day accompaniment this afternoon, Super Sunday, and it’s well worth a trip, one of the few remaining mixed cards these days. I haven’t been in a while – it’s a long way from Monaghan – but have found memories of watching the Longchamp race on the big screen at Tipp, with Workforce getting a big cheer in 2010, Rail Link in 2006 not so much as he got up to beat Pride and notably Deep Impact.

The southern part of the country has been hit by storms in recent days and the going looks likely to play a big part in the three flat races, the track getting 15 millimetres of rain since declarations and soft as of this morning.

Two runners in the featured Coolmore Sioux Nation Concorde Stakes (2:30) that should be suited by that are Power Under Me and Fleur De Chine.

Power Under Me started out as a sprinter but has carved out a niche as a slow ground type around a bend, his record since stepping up to seven furlongs and beyond at a left-handed track on slow ground reading:151421 and while he ran poorly last time at the ICF, it was on ground he doesn’t enjoy and connections likely needed to a run into him with a view to backend targets like this.

Fleur De Chine put up a decent performance to win the Gowran Classic back in June, the going slower than the official good then, and has largely competed on ground faster than ideal since. She was the pick of Shane Foley last time in the Listowel Stakes when finishing third behind a stablemate but that run should bring her on, while her forward-going style tends to suit this track, something that may not be the case with Chicago Critic.

The Fitzgerald’s Woodlands House Hotel Handicap at 1:55 is light on runners with obvious form claims, Kortez Bay suspect at the trip and his attitude questionable too, while Passionate (who will like the ground) has an awkward head carriage.

Titanium is one of the more interesting runners, albeit more for profile than form reasons. He cost a lot of money (€80,000) by the standards of this yard, and the stable was out of form when he ran twice at Galway.

Ciaran Murphy is in better form now, and while he has had just one winner in the last fortnight, there have been three seconds, two of them by narrow margins. Soft ground seems to suit this one and Colin Keane is a positive booking, while Vasda has a chance too if improving from her recent run when coming off a break at Roscommon.

In the hurdles races, Feud looks reasonably solid in the BoyleSports Novice Hurdle at 3:05, coming off a commanding success at Galway where he had in-form types in behind. The Willie Mullins-trained runners in that seem to have a bit more to prove but his horse in the Racing TV Handicap Hurdle at 4:15, OLD BILL BARLEY, looks a bit overpriced.

He was a reasonable summer jumper back in 2022, winning a bumper and running quite well in a couple of maiden hurdles, before a disappointing final start that September, after which he was off for 675 days.

It looks a positive that he has been kept in training after such an absence given he is low grade by the yard’s standards (currently rated 114) and presumably needed his first start back at Ballinrobe this July before an eye-catching effort last month on handicap debut at Kilbeggan.

Held up at a track where those tactics rarely work, he was badly hampered by a faller after halfway but made a good move to get back in the race out wide, another tactic that tends not to work at Kilbeggan.

He came to the last widest of all with every chance but made a bad mistake, before rallying again into third late, shaping like a well-treated horse in a race where a lot had gone wrong for him.

The form looks solid too with the four other horses in the first five having won eight races between them this summer, among them thriving types like Presenting Lady, The Dasher Conway and Drumgill.

The worry is his jumping, the mistake at the last not his only one in the race, but the hope is that handicap experience will have sharpened him up on that count.

Preview posted at 0900 on 06/10/24

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.