Day Two in Dublin: Ireland Outperform Their Odds
The trend of Irish winners in the opener continued, but the home nation had to beat the odds of a strong overseas challenge to do it. Today, the same threat remains. Only one Irish flag sits in the top seven in today’s feature.
Our main man is THE man
If Ireland had to rely on one man in the RDS main arena, then Conor Swail and Count Me In are undoubtedly THE combination to call on. Two years ago, they were sent in Michael Blake with the responsibility of out-pacing a nation known for speed. The nation counted on Conor and they weren’t disappointed. Today, the hosts have a small army to rely on, but this pair lead the charge on EquiRatings Prediction Centre and they have jumped clear in all three of their most recent rounds at 160 level.
Cian O’Connor and the Dublin Horse Show are a go-to combination in this sport. He trains Max Wachman and produced Max’s ride today, Kilkenny. In the 2022 Nations Cup win, Cian was the anchor for the team and delivered outstanding clears under pressure to make that jump-off possible. Kilkenny can perform in this arena and Max was 3rd in a 160 here 12 months ago. But Cian himself rides Fermoy and they could easily be the best of the Irish today, if not the outright winners. They jumped clear in the main arena yesterday and they were quick enough to pick up fourth place. A podium is within reach today if yesterday’s effort hasn’t left a mark.
A Staut Double…?
Kevin Staut and Beau De Laubry Z are the pre-competition favourites and they come here straight off the back of a monster five-star Grand Prix victory on home soil in Dinard. That win netted them a cheque for €125,000 and it was a hard-fought victory. They’ve had enough of a break to be fresh again for today’s class and back-to-back five-star 160 wins is a real possibility.
Ben Maher kept his powder dry with Exit Remo yesterday, but he may be ready to unleash his original Olympic mount Point Break today. They have the second highest expected round one clear chance (56%) behind Conor Swail and Count Me In (57%). Ben and Point Break have already jumped 10 five-star 160 clears from just 18 career attempts.
McLain Ward took this class in 2019 and he lines up here with a formidable partner in Contagious. This horse is the highest rated in the class on the EquiRatings Elo (757) which measures the quality and consistency of opponents beaten. Despite being the top-rated today, Prediction Centre ranks him 5th as the Elo is actually on a downward trend. This horse was once rated in the top five in the World. Today presents a good opportunity to get the form back on track.