John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Sunday.
Three points of interest
Knebworth going for repeat win at Doncaster
Doncaster’s Sunday card is full of competitive handicaps, none more so than the six-furlong contest (15:40) with a maximum field of 22 declared. This was won twelve months ago by Knebworth at a time when his trainer Richard Hughes was enjoying a purple patch of form. Hughes had a total of 20 winners from 56 runners in March/April last year equating to a near 36% strike rate.
Hughes has hit winning form again lately, with three winners on the all-weather last week, and Knebworth, who has the ‘Horses For Courses’ flag, looks to have been prepped with a repeat of last year’s victory in mind. His success last year came in first-time cheekpieces under apprentice Ethan Jones, then claiming 7 lb, who has partnered him in all starts since.
The partnership signed off last year with another win at Newbury and they returned to action at Wolverhampton earlier this month. Knebworth had finished second in the same race last year prior to going one better at Doncaster and shaped as if retaining all his ability this time, running on for fourth behind Sir Les Patterson which should have put him spot on for his repeat bid.
Last year’s placed pair Woven (beaten a short head) and Aleezdancer (the 2023 winner) are in the field again, but Knebworth’s main threat in a wide open contest this time could be Dark Thirty who has a good record fresh.
Ballydoyle can regain winning thread in Ballysax
We’re still in March, the clocks have only just changed and the Grand National hasn’t even been run yet but thoughts turn briefly on Sunday afternoon to the Derby with the Ballysax Stakes (15:45) featuring on Leopardstown’s first Flat card of the year. It’s a very early date for a meeting which previously this century has always taken place in April. Formerly a listed contest, the successive victories of future Derby winners Galileo and High Chaparral early this century earned the Ballysax a promotion to Group 3 level and the race can boast a more recent Derby winner too in 2016 when Harzand went on to success at Epsom.
Besides Galileo and High Chaparral, Aidan O’Brien has won the Ballysax with future Gold Cup winners Yeats and Fame And Glory, and four consecutive winners between 2018 and 2021 took his total number of victories in the race to eleven. However, there have been upsets in the last two years when Ballydoyle odds-on shots have been turned over behind White Birch, 22/1 winner in 2023, and Dallas Star, 50/1 winner in 2024, in renewals which took place on heavy ground.
Dallas Star’s trainer Adrian Murray fields race-fit Dundalk winners Tiberius Thunder and Spicy Margarita in a bid to repeat last year’s exploit but a trio from Ballydoyle are headed by Ryan Moore’s mount Delacroix who boasts much the best two-year-old form on offer. He developed into a smart colt by the autumn, asserting late on to win the Autumn Stakes at Newmarket and failing by only a nose to follow up in the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster when beaten by Hotazhell. The step up to middle distances is sure to suit Delacroix who can concede weight all round, with Puppet Master, fourth in the Royal Lodge Stakes last year, making it a potential Ballydoyle one-two.
Connections hoping to initiate a National double at Downpatrick
Connections of several runners in this year’s Ulster National (16:05) will doubtless be hoping to complete a double in ‘the real thing’ at Aintree on Saturday, but a first prize of €30,000 for the three and a half mile contest at Downpatrick isn’t to be sniffed at. They include Tom Gibney, trainer of current Aintree favourite Intense Raffles, who saddles top weight Bronn in the same colours of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, though his form has gone the wrong way of late.
Gordon Elliott and Gavin Cromwell are other trainers set to be represented both here and at Aintree on Saturday. They have also won the last three Ulster Nationals between them. Last year’s winner Jumping Jet looks to have the best chance among Elliott’s runners, and while Cromwell is again represented by last year’s runner-up Ask Anything, his best chance this time could be with Final Orders, third at Leopardstown last time.
Bronn’s former trainer Willie Mullins has also won an Ulster National, though that was back in 2009 when Ballytrim was successful. Paul Townend was in the saddle on that occasion and 16 years later the same pairing have a good chance with the mare Iris Emery. She’s yet to win over fences but is unexposed over long distances and returned to form on her handicap debut and first try over this trip when third in the Dublin National at Leopardstown four weeks ago under a conditional jockey. She’s preferred to the unreliable Dunboyne who was a 66/1 winner over hurdles last time on his first start since leaving Elliott and is on a handy mark back over fences.
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