6th-Aug-2023

Current Option is a standing dish in the Ahonoora Handicap.  He has won the last three renewals, off marks of 99, 105 and 97, and he is a big player today again off a mark of 95.  He ran better than his finishing position suggests in the Colm Quinn BMW Mile on Tuesday, and he is better over this seven-furlong trip than he is over a mile.  He ran in the Colm Quinn BMW Mile in each of the last three years, finishing, respectively, 14^th, seventh, and fourth.

But I am happy to take him on at the price with Dunum and Laugh A Minute.  Dunum ran a big race in the Colm Quinn BMW Mile on Tuesday, he got over from his wide draw to race prominently, but he was just a little keener than ideal early on.  He travelled best of all into the home straight, and he kept on well after he had been passed to take third place, just a length behind the winner Coeur D’Or.

Natalia Lupini’s horse was a revelation last season, improving from a mark of 58 to his current mark of 95, and it was good to see him bounce back on Tuesday after a poor run in the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot.  The drop to seven furlongs should suit him, a stiff seven suits him well.  Also, he won over today’s course and distance at last year’s festival, and the excellent Billy Lee rides him today for the first time.

Laugh A Minute’s best form is over shorter, but he ran a big race in this race last year to finish third behind Current Option.  He came from mid-division that day, and he had to chart his way through on the inside.  Also, importantly, he was going on at the finish, he stayed on up the hill well.

He is only 3lb higher today on a mark of 92 than he was then, and he put up a big performance last time off a mark of 91 in finishing third behind Strike Red in the Scurry Handicap at The Curragh on Irish Oaks day. He ran better than the bare form of that run suggests too, because he was out towards the centre, away from the favoured stands rail.  He was the only one of the first six home who raced from a single-figure stall.

He goes into the race in good form, he goes well at the track, and he will appreciate the ease in the ground.

DUNUM WON (ADV 4/1, SP 100/30)

LAUGH A MINUTE 3RD (ADV EW 14/1, SP 16/1)