Title rivals Colin Keane and Shane Foley are set for a busy Friday and our man in Ireland Fran Berry picks out his best bets for Leopardstown and Dundalk.
A double card in Ireland today with Leopardstown and Dundalk and I suppose the focus is likely to be on the jockeys' championship with Shane Foley and Colin Keane having 11 rides each between the two courses.
Shane had a treble yesterday and Colin hit back with two to maintain that five-winner lead but both riders are right at the top of their game.
Both meetings are tricky in terms of betting but I'd found a couple I'm keen on, starting with DANCE EMPEROR in division two of the mile handicap at Leopardstown. The favourite Treble Cone could take a lot of beating despite going up 6lb for winning last time but if you take him out of the race it's extremely open and Peter Fahey's outsider is worth chancing.
He was a course and distance winner a couple of years ago off a mark of 74 and runs off 64 now. In his last two starts he's come out of the stalls slowly, but he shaped quite well at Cork despite the slow start and if you roll back to his Galway run this summer, when beaten two length in third to Out On Friday, that kind of form would put him bang there with the main protagonists in this field.
He also ran okay at the Curragh after a slow start. With a few non-runners here today, he might be able to come out on terms and looks quite interesting at a track he clearly quite likes. People may think the ground won't suit him but it was quite testing at Galway and I'm not put off by it.
From Leopardstown we head up to Dundalk where the Mercury Stakes is the Group 3 feature on another competitive card.
I've struggled to find a selection in that but I like one in the nursery at 5.45, the third race. Gordon Elliott's SARDONYX is the horse in question under Colin Keane.
She caught my eye on second start at Punchestown, I thought the filly shaped really well in a race that's worked out quite well. She ran alright in a claimer on third start too at Cprk and then really caught the eye again here at Dundalk last time.
This race represents a dip in class and she's been eased a couple of pounds too. She missed the start last time and was settled towards the rear but she made good ground when switched out before tiring. Colin Keane takes over now and the each-way element makes a lot of appeal.
Posted at 1140 BST on 16/10/20
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