RACING

Ryan McElligott

No sooner has the dust settled on Aintree than all thoughts are turning to the BoyleSports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse and this year’s Easter Monday spectacular promises to be the best for quite some time.

A significantly enhanced prize fund of €500,000 has substantially enhanced the race’s appeal while further interest is supplied by the battle between Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott for the trainer’s championship. Given the prize money on offer for the Irish National, the race could be pivotal in the pair’s intriguing struggle for supremacy.

Elliott’s team for the race could well stretch into double figures and Mullins also has some legitimate candidates to call upon, but this might just be a race where both might have to settle for a minor role.

Of those that make most appeal, the Jessica Harrington-trained novice chaser Our Duke looks a standout contender.

A Grade 1-winning novice chaser, he would have been more than good enough to play a leading role at Cheltenham, but connections opted to stay at home and instead target this prize.

He is at a disadvantage in terms of experience but could just be a class apart.

Another novice chaser with a major chance is Pat Kelly’s Mall Dini.

He has yet to win in six starts over fences but last month at Cheltenham he looked somewhat unlucky in finishing a close fifth in the Kim Muir.

That run indicated that he would be more than capable of holding his own in the Irish National.

Lastly Minella Foru simply cannot be underestimated. He won the 2015 edition of the Paddy Power Chase and, on his only start since then, he shaped up quite well in a Grade 3 hurdle at Naas in January. It is a concern that he has been sparingly campaigned lately, though his Paddy Power victory suggested that this gelding could be a major force in quality handicap chases.

O’BRIEN STRING IN TOP FORM

On the flat racing front there was some quality action over the weekend and the wellbeing of Aidan O’Brien’s string was further emphasised by several classic trials at Leopardstown on Saturday.

Firstly Hydrangea, a dual Group 1 runner-up last autumn, won a quality edition of the Group 3 1000 Guineas Trial.

She produced one of her trademark battling displays to edge out stablemate Winter. Hydrangea will again be a contender for top level honours while Winter took a major step forward and could be a coming force amongst her trainer’s team of top fillies.

Earlier on the card O’Brien’s Orderofthegarter bolted up in the 2000 Guineas Trial.

The manner in which he set a strong pace and then quickened up in the straight was very taking. He could be kept under wraps for the Irish 2000 Guineas for which he would be a formidable contender.

The Ballydoyle trainer was also expected to land the Group 3 Ballysax Stakes but instead it was his son Joseph who carried the day with Rekindling. Last season Rekindling did look quite a promising sort for David Wachman and this defeat of several Group 1-placed performers from Ballydoyle marks him out as a fine middle distance prospect.

STACK STANDS OUT

Elsewhere, Fozzy Stack, who only sent out his first runners last month, maintained his red hot start to the season as Diamond Fields upstaged multiple Group 1 winner Alice Springs in the Gladness Stakes.

This filly showed up well at Royal Ascot and in America last season and another industrious international campaign could beckon for her.

Lastly, two maiden winners from the weekend deserve a mention. Michael Halford’s Irishcorrespondent looked every inch a stakes horse in making a winning debut in a mile maiden at Leopardstown on Saturday.

The following afternoon Dermot Weld’s Tocco D’amore captured the imagination with a six lengths victory against the colts in a 10 furlongs maiden at Naas. The €2m top lot from the 2015 Orby Sale could just have classic potential.