Downpatrick Sunday Tips and Ulster National Preview
Downpatrick Sunday Tips: Ulster National Preview
After a torrid week at Cheltenham we at least got decent runs for our money at Thurles. Nero Rock tried his heart out in the opener for us, just missing out on a place in 4th at 40/1. Mary Frances ran a blinder too in 2nd, perhaps the drying ground and drop in trip cost her. Cousin Pascal also ran a cracker to finish 4th, landing our e/w bets at 28/1. Ministerforsport was the only selection to run poorly but Bridge Native got us back on track in the last. We advised her e/w at 16/1 and she grabbed a place at 8s. The focus switches to the North of Ireland on Sunday for the Ulster National. Check out Dave Stevos’ Downpatrick Sunday tips and big race preview below…
Downpatrick Sunday Tips: 3.10 Ulster National Handicap Chase (5yo+)
The Ulster National is the feature race at Downpatrick on Sunday. With no other meetings on in the UK or Ireland, the audience for this race will be a lot bigger than usual. As is usually the case in these valuable Irish handicaps, the field is full of Gordon Elliott runners. He fires a total of 6 bullets at the race and five of them are priced up at 12/1 or shorter. You can’t discount anything from the Elliott yard but judging which one of his entries is most likely here is far from an easy task.
I would rather look elsewhere for a bit of value and one horse that fits the bill is Coastal Tiep. The first time this horse caught my eye was at Aintree last season. I was there and saw him run in the Foxhunters Chase when he came from nowhere to grab 4th. He stayed on really well over the 21f trip that day and he had a lovely prep for this race at Naas last time out.
Steven Crawford’s charge stayed on well to nick 3rd in that contest, 8L behind Billaway and just a head behind Staker Wallace. Those two went on to finish 2nd and 4th in the Foxhunters’ Chase at Cheltenham so the form looks decent. The booking of JJ Slevin catches the eye and he has a superb record for the Crawfords. He has 8 winners and 19 top 4s from just 61 rides for the yard. This horse was rated 139 over fences for Paul Nicholls. He was also placed off 130 over hurdles for him. Coastal Tiep could be very well treated on his first handicap chase start off just 123. If he gets the trip he could go very close at odds of 14/1.
