The ground at Leopardstown today will be decent, the going update this morning giving it as ‘yielding, yielding to soft in places’ on the hurdle track and ‘yielding, good to yielding in places’ on the chase track. We’ve a dry day ahead and that looks to be against the favourite Thedevilscoachman in the QuinnBet Hurdle at 2.25.

He has long been best on testing ground as well as over further, while this will be his third quick run too. Meet And Greet should handle the going but this drop in distance is a negative and he has to overcome a disappointing effort last time in the Boyne Hurdle.

Pied Piper might be the horse in the field most suited by conditions on the track and in the race itself, top-rated on 153 and getting weight from three rivals, but he hasn’t run in 138 days and has produced his best recent efforts in big field handicaps. It might be a negative that he reappears here rather than the County Hurdle, a race he has run well in the last two years, allowing he could yet head there on Friday week.

That leaves ASPIRE TOWER as a potential play at the prices. He is not what he was in his first and seconds season over hurdles but ran to a decent level when winning at Punchestown in October and both his subsequent starts have come under unsuitable conditions.

Wincanton looked much too sharp for him in the Elite Hurdle as did the two-mile trip of the big handicap hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival where he had his last run. Off a break, he raced prominently which didn’t suit in a race where hold-up horses filled the first three places, while jumping mistakes at the third, fifth and second last didn’t help either.

In the end, he did ok to finish in midfield and his record at Leopardstown reads well with form figures:1F2F9, the two falls coming when he was in contention at the last, and while his jumping remains an issue, it should be under less pressure in this small field.

There is also a decent chance he gets an uncontested lead while his stable has been in better form in the last few weeks than early in 2025.

The QuinnBet Handicap Chase at 4.02 has a recent history of producing big-priced winners and the make-up of the field this year suggests something similar could happen again.

There are plenty in the field with decent back form that could return to something like their best and Union Park was a rag that might have a better chance than his odds suggest, the drying ground in his favour.

The Dublin National Handicap Chase (4.37) – who doesn’t have a National these days?! – is an unusual race as a marathon chase for mid-grade horses, races over his sort of distance rare and usually confined to classier types in Ireland.

It would be no surprise if One Horse Army continued his upward curve having shaped like one that would stay this trip last time, while Brucejack has been consistent all season. At the prices, Toofareastiswest might be most interesting.

He has to overcome a 92-day absence which is a concern but wants decent ground and a trip, so it is possible connections have waited for this, while he caught the eye with a view to going up in trip last time over shorter.

Published at 0844 GMT on 02/03/25

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