Jake Price’s Dublin Racing Festival Tips

The Dublin Racing Festival is here and I’m absolutely buzzing to make the trip across to Dublin this weekend! My best bet of the whole meeting comes in the opener, where I think the Mare Jetara has strong claims.

This Jessie Harrington 6yo is a second season Novice, but this time around she’s been much more successful with 3 victories to her name – including facile victories in a Listed Mares Novice Hurdle at Punchestown, followed by an impressive Grade 3 victory over 2m4f at Leopardstown over Christmas in an open company Mares Hurdle.

I’m really looking forward to the Spring Juvenile, and it’s here where I think that Kargese can reverse the form of her 2nd place finish over course and distance in December. This Filly was a Grade 3 winner in her native France before joining Willie Mullins over the Summer, and that meant that on her debut for the yard she had to carry a 3lbs penalty on Boxing Day.

She absolutely pulled like a train that day in a race which was set at a slow pace however, and despite tanking her way into the contest she was beaten 0.75 lengths by Kala Conti. This time around she will be 3lbs better off at the weights, and hopefully she will settle much better like she did in France. She could well be a Triumph Hurdle contender.

I think it’s fascinating that Willie Mullins sends Zenta back over Hurdles on Sunday, and she looks well treated off a Handicap mark of 138 to my eye. This Mare was a very good Juvenile Hurdler last season, winning the Grade 3 Winning Fair Juvenile Hurdle at Fairyhouse before then finishing a very close 3rd behind Lossiemouth (155) and Gala Marceau (146) in the Triumph Hurdle itself. She’s since gone on to win the Grade 1 Anniversary at Aintree to boot, yet somehow is still only rated 138 over Hurdles.

This season she has only had one bet when going Chasing and finishing 3rd, but connections seem to have put her Chase career on hold for now with a preference of going back over Hurdles.