12:35 Leopardstown

Friday 29 December 2023

All12:0012:3513:1013:4514:2014:5515:25

Pigsback.com Maiden Hurdle

Off time: 12:35 | Winning time: 5m 5.8s

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Selected odds by:

Apple's Of Bresil⁴¹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: M J M O'Sullivan| T: B Connell

4/1

Twice-raced maiden. Third of 7 in bumper (2/1) at Navan (16f, heavy) 41 days ago. Well adrift of Ballyburn on debut at Punchestown in April. Improvement needed now switched to hurdles but certainly not without an each-way chance.

Form: 7-3

Ballyburn²⁷

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: P Townend| T: W P Mullins| BF

2/9

Highly promising individual. 10/11, second of 24 in novice hurdle at Fairyhouse (16f, soft) on hurdles bow 27 days ago, clear of rest. Potentially a smart novice and will prove hard to beat with this step up in trip expected to be in his favour.

Form: 111-2

Cleatus Poolaw²⁹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: J W Kennedy| T: G Elliott

6/1

Promising sort. Second of 15 in novice hurdle (3/1) at Thurles (16.5f, good to soft) on hurdles bow 29 days ago. Up in trip and likely to improve. Engaged 12.55 Limerick Thursday.

Form: 21-22

Cloughroe⁴⁷

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: D J Gilligan⁽⁵⁾| T: P J Gilligan

125/1

Thrice-raced maiden under Rules. First run since leaving Denis Quinn when twelfth of 14 in novice hurdle at Naas (18.9f, soft, 100/1) on hurdles bow 47 days ago.

Form: 430

Coming Up Easy^t1⁴¹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: Rachael Blackmore| T: H De Bromhead

16/1

Twice-raced maiden under NH rules. 20/1, seventh of 16 in novice hurdle at Navan (20f, heavy) on hurdles bow 41 days ago. Tongue strap on for 1st time. Should progress and yard has saddled the winner of this maiden 5 times since 2012.

Form: 3/6-7

Laurie Blue⁶²⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 11-5| J: D J O'Keeffe| T: E D Delany

150/1

£40,000 4-y-o, Court Cave mare. Closely related to poor hurdler The Lion Man. Dam maiden hurdler. Runner-up sole start in points back in April 2022. Probably best watched on Rules debut.

Form: 2/

Saddle Her Up⁶¹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-5| J: Sean Cleary-Farrell⁽⁷⁾| T: Barry J Fitzgerald

33/1

Thrice-raced maiden under Rules. Second of 10 in novice hurdle at Galway (16f, heavy, 50/1) 61 days ago. Up in trip and live each-way chance if able to build on that.

Form: 98/2

Tell Me This⁶⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 11-5| J: P J Carberry| T: Nina Walsh

100/1

Ask mare. Half-sister to fairly useful hurdler Oneupmanship, stays 3m, and fair chaser Home Place. Dam unraced. Failed to complete all 3 starts between the flags.

Form: FF-F

Non-Runners

Ebony Jade²⁰

Weight: 11-12| Age: 5

T: J P Dempsey J: K M Donoghue

Forecasts

Ballyburn (2/9), Apple's Of Bresil (4/1), Cleatus Poolaw (6/1), Coming Up Easy (16/1), Saddle Her Up (33/1), Ebony Jade (100/1), Tell Me This (100/1), Cloughroe (125/1), Laurie Blue (150/1)

It's hard to look beyond BALLYBURN, who achieved a smart level of form in bumpers last season and pulled clear of the rest when chasing home a highly promising novice in Firefox on his hurdles debut at Fairyhouse. With Cleatus Poolaw due to run at Limerick on Thursday, Coming Up Easy, who represents a yard that has made a habit of winning this race in recent years, and Saddle Her Up are taken to fill the places.