Joseph O'Brien's juvenile Toshizou is Fran Berry's sole selection at Tipperary this afternoon - check out his thoughts on a fascinating little race.
Recommended bets, Monday September 14
2pts win Toshizou in 3.00 Tipperary at 5/4
For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record
I'm bound for Sligo today and an all-chase card which should provide plenty of thrills and spills, but I won't be able to resist keeping a close eye on the opening maiden at Tipperary (3.00).
It could turn out to be quite an informative heat and Aidan O'Brien sends out Galileo colt Matchless on debut. He's a brother to Delphi who won four times up to a mile and six and no doubt he'll be seen to good effect as he goes up in trip and gains more experience.
He could be too good, of course, but I'm happy enough to oppose him for the time being.
Dermot Weld enjoyed a magnificent Sunday and I was particularly impressed with the way he's campaigned Search For A Song to win her second Irish St. Leger. Weld really is the Leger king over here and loves to target the race from a long way back.
The word on the Curragh yesterday was that his Kingman colt Baseman could be a little bit special and I'm quite excited to see how he fares first time up here. Weld would usually build up steadily with a horse like this so seeing he's as short as 11/4 in places for his first public appearance speaks volumes.
However, he and the rest are going to be need to be well above-average to beat Joseph O'Brien's TOSHIZOU (5/4 bet365).
He's another colt by Galileo and he's closely related to some speedy types like Southern Hills who won at five furlongs as a two-year-old.
I thought he shaped with considerable promise first time out when third at Leopardstown and Joseph's horses nearly always improve a good chunk from first to second start.
On top of that fact, the form is really quite strong: Masen won it and he contested yesterday's Group One National Stakes while the second Charterhouse has since won a Curragh maiden by nearly three lengths. Fourth home, Van Gogh, hasn't won subsequently but was second to Cadillac in the Group Two at Leopardstown on Saturday, while the sixth, Blue For You, came out and won well at Galway, beating Wembley, who was second to Thunder Moon in the National yesterday.
In short, it looks fairly bombproof evidence that Toshizou should be very hard to beat and anything bigger than evens is worth snapping up.
Posted at 0955 BST on 14/09/20
