Horse racing betting tips: Sir Erec can take Juvenile with a Spring in his step
ALL EYES are on the weather this evening ahead of Saturday's Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown.
The two-day meeting, now in its second year, features eight Grade One races in what promises to be a mouth-watering weekend of action if the frost stays away.
Saturday's feature is the Irish Champion Hurdle (1.25pm) which looks at the mercy of APPLE’S JADE despite this being her first run back at two miles since November 2016.
Gordon Elliott’s mare is unbeaten in all three starts this campaign and has looked better than ever, winning all three by wide margins.
Even though she is stepping back from her three mile hurdle win over Christmas, she has looked all about speed this season and I expect her to win again.
Her mares’ allowance means she also gets a handy 7lbs from her main rivals Melon and Supasundae, despite being rated 4lbs and 5lbs superior to them respectively.
She can be backed at 5/4 in a place and that looks too big to ignore.
Looking at the rest of Saturday's card, and Battleoverdoyen should take some stopping in the opener (12.50pm), while Le Richebourg will be equally hard to beat in the Irish Arkle (3.45pm).
However, it may be worth saving some ammunition for Sunday which features the Irish Gold Cup (3.35pm).
That race itself may be best watching as, even though I expect Road To Respect to go very close, he is pretty
short at the head of the betting against a quality line-up.
Instead, the best bet on the card looks to be Joseph O’Brien’s SIR EREC in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle (1.15pm).
He was extremely useful on the Flat when trained by Joseph’s father Aidan and was only beaten 2½ lengths by Stradivarius at Ascot on Champions Day.
Since then he has only had the one start over hurdles when he fought off Willie Mullins’ Tiger Tap Tap over course and distance at Christmas.
The pair drew a long way clear of the third that day and it looked a smart performance.
A case can certainly be made for the runner-up improving dramatically again, but he will need to have done so significantly to beat Sir Erec who seemed to win with a bit in hand.
Plenty of encouragement can also be taken from the fact that O’Brien saddled impressive juvenile winner Fakir D’Oudairies at Cheltenham last weekend.
That horse has since leapfrogged Sir Erec at the head of the betting for the Triumph Hurdle in March, but I expect my selection to take back that position after an impressive win on Sunday.
Finally, many will have Delta Work down as banker material in the Flogas Novice Chase (3.00pm) as he has been impressive winning all three starts over fences this season.
His last two wins have come at Grade One level and he still managed to get the job done last time despite virtually everything going wrong during the race.
However, he is as short as 11/10 in a place and may just be worth opposing. La Bague Au Roi looks the obvious one with her mares’ allowance, but I’m keen to take a chance on WINTER ESCAPE each-way at 5/1.
He sneaks in here slightly under the radar as he hails from an unfashionable yard, but he is improving with every start and may just spring a surprise.