Paul Ferguson looks at Await The Dawn at Chester (2.20) and Punchestown pair Prince Of Pirates (3.40) and Quevega (5.30).
Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien teamed up to take the Cheshire Oaks yesterday and the pair can strike again in this afternoon’s Group 3 Huxley Stakes with Await The Dawn (2:20).
The four-year-old looked a colt to follow when winning both starts last season and the son of Giant’s Causeway can carry a penalty to success here before being upped to better company.
Over at Punchestown, day three’s feature the Ladbrokes.com World Series Hurdle can go the way of Quevega (5:30) for the second successive season.
Willie Mullins’ seven-year-old appeared better than ever when winning her third David Nicholson at Cheltenham in March and, as she is fresher than most (the Festival was her first start since this race last year), she ought to be very hard to beat.
Captain Chris is another capable of supplementing Cheltenham success here, but the Ryanair Novice Chase could become a tactical affair so I’m looking earlier on the card for the third bet of the day and a horse that actually beat in him a bumper on their racecourse debut’s back in February last year.
Prince Of Pirates (3:40) has been very lightly raced since and won his sole start over hurdles at Cheltenham in December, when he was left in front by the fall of subsequent Supreme Novices’ winner Al Ferof.
The son of Milan has clearly had his problems since then, but he remains a top-class prospect and the step up in trip ought to suit here. As well as having Captain Chris in behind on debut, stable-mate and Festival winner Bobs Worth finished runner-up that day and the decent ground should suit the selection in a competitive looking AON Hurdle.
In the same contest keep an eye on Si C’Etait Vrai at a bigger price as he is a horse with a very bright future and could well improve for meeting decent ground.
Thursday’s selections:
2:20 Chester Await The Dawn (Evs)
3:40 Punchestown Prince Of Pirates
5:30 Punchestown Quevega (Evs)
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