24-Jan-2010

It is also well worthwhile getting with An Cathaoir Mor at 14/1. That is far too big. As outlined above, he won his beginners’ chase at Fairyhouse on Sunday with much more in hand than the winning margin suggests. He travelled supremely well through the race, he jumped really well, and he showed a fine turn of foot off a relatively slow early gallop to get up and collar Nicanor on the line.

He does have five lengths to make up on Zaarito on their Naas running, but it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that he will make it up. That was just his second run of the season, and he is a big horse who takes plenty of getting fit, so he should be improving for racing. He has just turned seven, he has raced just three times now over fences, and he is most progressive. That probable fast pace will suit well as well, and he should be able to utilise his fluent jumping to maximum effect off a fast pace. In my guts I think that Zaarito is a more likely winner, I think that he is a classier horse, but this game is all about the odds, and An Cathaoir Mor is well over-priced in my book at 14/1, I can see him far out-performing those odds as long as he has recovered from his exertions on Sunday, when he didn’t have that hard a race, and he is well worth having on side. There is a good chance that fewer than eight horses will line up, so at 1/5 the odds the first three with Ladbrokes, he is an each-way bet at this stage.

AN CATHAOIR MOR WON (ADV 14/1, SP 7/1)