2025 Ffos Las & Fairyhouse Saturday Preview

Last weekend’s meetings both fell by the wayside due to the cold weather. Unfortunately, Kempton has been called off now too so we won’t be collecting on our Titan Discovery bet. However, we still have a couple of decent races to get stuck into this weekend, you can check out Dave Stevos’ 2025 Ffos Las & Fairyhouse Saturday tips below.

1.15 Ffos Las – Towton Novices’ Chase (Grade 2)

The decision was taken earlier this week to switch this race from Wetherby, which is frozen over. There’s a precautionary inspection at Ffos Las tomorrow too but the weather app I use suggests they should be fine so we may as well crack on.

The best race of the day is this opener and a field of seven novices will go to post. The ground is likely to be very taxing and tacky and that should bring stamina to the fore, even over this 2m3f trip. That’s good news for Handstands’ fans, who ran out a ready winner of a Grade 2 over 3m at Sandown last time.

He has obvious claims of following up but he does have to give weight away and with three places on offer, it might be worth backing one at a price to maybe sneak into the frame.

Stable Debut Win

After he landed a heavy ground handicap chase here off 119 at 100/1 on his first start for Alison Thorpe, Karuma Grey’s connections said they thought they had a ‘Saturday horse’ on their hands and the Welsh National was mentioned as a possible long term aim. There was no fluke about the manner of his win and given his pedigree, there could be more to come from him.

He’s a full brother to Irascible, who was a runner up in a Grade 1 novice hurdle at Leopardstown a few years back. He’s also a half-brother to Kruzhlinin (achieved a rating of 146 over fences) and Kalooki (Grade 2 placed over hurdles/winner off 140 over fences).

Not Much To Find

Karuma Grey was hiked up 6lb for his win here last month and is now rated 125. He won’t have to improve that much to get close to Lord Of Thunder (14/1 here), who has struggled in both starts this season and who wears a tongue tie for the first time. Hillcrest (16/1) is rated 15lb higher but he hasn’t exactly set the world alight in his two runs since returning from a mammoth layoff.

Range’s best performance over fences came on good to soft ground, as did Cherie d’Am’s. She has won on soft admittedly but whether this gluey ground will be to her liking is up for debate. At odds of 40/1, Karuma Grey is a speculative e/w selection.

2025 Ffos Las & Fairyhouse Saturday Tip: Karuma Grey e/w @ 40/1 (3 places B365)

1.45 Fairyhouse – Dan & Joan Moore Handicap Chase (Grade 3)

The track was still frozen at Fairyhouse this morning. However, I live around 12km from the track as the crow flies and temperatures had risen to 3 degrees this afternoon and they are forecast to rise higher tomorrow so racing will hopefully go ahead.

Like Ffos Las, it’ll probably be very tacky ground and that will suit some of these better than others. The one I like at a price is Captains Nephew for Philip Rothwell and Tiernan Power Roche, who takes off a very handy 7lb.

Four starts ago this son of Mahler landed a Listed handicap chase over C&D off 122. That win came on heavy and his form figures on that sort of ground read 131. He shaped pretty nicely on his comeback at Navan last month and the return to a right handed track is a big plus for him. He has form figures of 85057 on soft ground going left handed over fences and hurdles, whereas on soft-heavy ground over fences his form figures read 5313271 (his only win over hurdles came going right handed too).

Surely, Rothwell marked this race on his calendar as soon as Captains Nephew won here last March and that Navan run should have left him spot on fitness wise. At odds of 25/1, he is the each way selection.

2025 Ffos Las & Fairyhouse Saturday Tip: Captains Nephew e/w @ 25/1 (4 places) NAP

1.51 Ffos Las – Dragonbet Handicap Hurdle Division 1 (Class 5)

Nothing like a class 5 to whet the appetite on a Saturday. Jukebox Joker is interesting here for Ean Williams with his daughter Isabel taking off 3lb. He didn’t show much in a bumper or in three novice hurdles but he was handicapped accordingly and he offered something to work with when fourth on his handicap debut over this C&D back in November.

Yes, he was beaten 21l but he was a touch keen early and those exertions probably told in the last couple of furlongs. However, he travelled well for a long way and if he can settle a bit better today, he might be able to sustain his finishing effort for longer.

Four of his siblings have won on soft and heavy ground so these conditions should be fine on breeding and Evan Williams’ horses are in excellent form. He also runs Walkinthewoods, who isn’t without a chance, but I think Jukebox Joker has a more interesting profile so at 12/1, he gets the nod.

2025 Ffos Las & Fairyhouse Saturday Tip: Jukebox Joker e/w @ 12/1 (4 places)

2.40 Chelmsford – bet365 Handicap (Class 3)

Not a bad pot for this 1m handicap with 20k going to the winner. At odds of 20/1, perhaps Riot can go close to getting his first win over this trip. David O’Meara’s 8yo son of Kingman has won seven races, including two at this venue, all at 7f. He is 0/6 over a mile but he stays this far and he was only beaten 1.5l at Lingfield off 82 over this distance on his penultimate start at Lingfield.

Riot didn’t seem to appreciate dropping back to 7f there on his latest start. He stayed on pretty nicely from the back and moving back up to a mile looks a prudent move. He’s down to 81, a pound lower than he was when winning over 7f here in December 2023, and Jason Watson is back on board. He hasn’t got a bad draw in stall 8, hopefully he can stay on late and fast for a place at least at odds of 20/1.

2025 chelmsford Saturday Tip: Riot e/w @ 20/1 (5 places) NB

2.58 Ffos Las – Handicap Hurdle (Class 3)

Up For Parol could go well here at a half-decent price. We’ve backed him for the last two Lanzarote Hurdles and he was entered for that race again this weekend but Jamie Snowden decided to declare for this race instead.

He made his seasonal reappearance at Sandown last month and he shaped very nicely, finishing a 9l second over 3m on heavy ground. That was a class 2 contest and he now drops in grade and returns to the scene of his novice hurdle win back in 2021.

He was admittedly beaten 18l at Sandown last time but he finished 11l clear of Super Survivor in third and West To The Bridge (10/1 here) was a neck back in fourth. I can see Up For Parol upholding that form and while the top two in the market here will likely be hard to beat, Snowden’s charge is more than capable of finishing third and if the market leaders fluff their lines, hopefully he’ll be waiting in the wings to take advantage.

At odds of 12/1, Up For Parol is the each way selection.

2025 Ffos Las & Fairyhouse Saturday Tip: Up For Parol e/w @ 12/1

-DaveStevos