15:30 Leopardstown

Thursday 27 December 2018

All12:1012:4013:1513:5014:2515:0015:30

Paddy Power Games 'One For The Road' Flat Race

Off time: 15:33 | Winning time: 5m 8.3s

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Selected odds by:

All For Joy²⁴⁴

Age: 6| Weight: 12-0| J: R Deegan⁽⁵⁾| T: O McKiernan

4/1

Has finished second four times in as many attempts in bumpers. Should give another good account but lacks a recent run and might just be vulnerable again.

Form: 1/24222-

Effernock Manor²²¹

Age: 5| Weight: 12-0| J: Mr H D Dunne⁽⁵⁾| T: G Keane

50/1

Finished third in sole point-to-point back in May and will have to improve on that sort of effort if hoping for a winning start under rules.

Form: 3

Milan Native

Age: 5| Weight: 12-0| J: Ms L O'Neill| T: G Elliott

12/1

Related to owners' useful Colour Squadron, makes first start here for Gordon Elliott and entitled to be decent.

Form:

Air Gold²⁹

Age: 4| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr T Hamilton⁽⁵⁾| T: A Fleming

14/1

Ran well enough when fifth in Punchestown maiden hurdle on debut last month over 2m on good ground. Reverts to bumper here and could have improvement in him.

Form: 5

Cenotice¹⁸

Age: 4| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr M J O'Hare⁽³⁾| T: N Meade

12/1

Third in bumpers at Navan and Punchestown thus far, almost certainly going to have to step forward on that form again to get the win here.

Form: 43-133

K'chou Du Pecos Aa

Age: 4| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr P W Mullins| T: W P Mullins

7/4

Walk In The Park gelding, cost a cool €140,000 and is in the best hands possible for starting carer off. Big player on paper.

Form:

Neptune^b¹⁹

Age: 4| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr F Maguire⁽³⁾| T: D K Weld

7/1

Galileo colt is a brother to a smart 1m winner and has shaped well in three bumpers so far, including runner-up efforts at this track and Navan most recently. No reason to doubt he'll be in the mix again.

Form: 322

Russian Diamond

Age: 4| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr D O'Connor| T: E Mullins

7/2

A €16,000 three-year-old, Morozov gelding, he is a half-brother to fair hurdler Stonemadforspeed. Booking of Derek O'Connor a positive on first outing.

Form:

Storm Flight¹⁸

Age: 4| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr J Williams⁽⁷⁾| T: C O'Dwyer

66/1

Gelding by Haatef out of a Marju mare. Half-brother to the handy Estibdaad and Danz Gift. Unconvincing in three runs thus far and has chunk of improvement to find.

Form: 7P8

The Artful Roger^h1¹⁸

Age: 4| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr D N O'Brien⁽⁷⁾| T: J Halley

50/1

Westerner gelding is a brother to two winners, including bumper winner/useful 3m hurdle winner The Westener Boy. May want further in time and best watched first time out unless betting speaks.

Form: 6

Up'n'over

Age: 4| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr Pat Taaffe⁽⁷⁾| T: Mrs J Harrington

16/1

Flemensfirth gelding is a brother to fair 2m hurdle winner Run 'N' Jump, represents powerful yard but may stay a bit further than this in time. Market will reveal more.

Form:

Forecasts

K'chou Du Pecos Aa (7/4), Russian Diamond (7/2), All For Joy (4/1), Neptune (7/1), Milan Native (12/1), Cenotice (12/1), Air Gold (14/1), Up'n'over (16/1), The Artful Roger (50/1), Effernock Manor (50/1), Storm Flight (66/1)

Willie Mullins has won the last two renewals of this race and K'CHOU DU PECOS AA makes plenty of appeal on paper to make it three in a row for Team Closutton. The Walk In The Park gelding cost a nice fee and could be useful for powerful connections. Fellow newcomers Russian Diamond and Milan Native are also worth a look while the standard is set by the returning All For Joy, which has already finished second in all four bumpers contested. Air Gold is a possible improver.