Tote the smart play for punters at Leopardstown

The biggest weekend of racing in Ireland kicks off this afternoon with the opening day of the Irish Champions Festival at Leopardstown and punters looking to get value for money with their bets should certainly consider the options with the Tote.

All 8 races in Leopardstown today form part of the World Pool which will see punters from across the globe betting into the Irish Tote pools.

There are six bet types included in the World Pool for Leopardstown: Win, Place, Quinella, Swinger, Exacta and Trifecta.

One main difference between standard race days and World Pool days is in regards to the Place terms. Races with between 7 and 20 declared runners pay 3 places irrespective of whether these races are handicaps or not. This is of significance for the final two handicaps at Leopardstown today which would normally see dividends declared for the first 4 horses, but will each only have 3 places paid today.

Each of today’s Tote World Pools will have massive liquidity compared to an average race meeting and this allows punters to bet with confidence that their individual stakes will have almost no impact on the subsequent dividends.

The majority of foreign money entering the Leopardstown Tote pools will come from Hong Kong and they love to play the exotic bets such as Swinger, Exacta and Trifecta.

The Swinger in particular is an interesting option for punters playing the Tote today. In order to win on a Swinger bet you must predict any two horses to finish in the first three places on a given race. Neither horse needs to win the race, as long as both finish in the first three places you win a share in the dividend.

After deductions, the money in the Swinger pool is divided into three ways to pay out the winning combinations - horses 1 and 2, horses 1 and 3, and horses 2 and 3.

Looking ahead to today’s racing at Leopardstown there are some fascinating contests in store, not least the €1,250,000 Irish Champion Stakes at 3.20pm.

Dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin is on his second retrieval mission of the season having initially flopped in the 2000 Guineas before striking gold at Epsom and the Curragh and arrives here after another dismal display in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot at the end of July. Aidan O’Brien is confident he has his star colt back in top order, but a safer option looks to be King Of Steel.

Roger Varian’s runner was having his first start for the stable when finishing a close second to Auguste Rodin in the Epsom Derby. He has since kicked on from there by winning a Group 2 at Royal Ascot and last time out ended up a long way ahead of Auguste Rodin when finishing third to older rivals, Hukum and Westover, in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Last year’s first two home in the Irish Champion Stakes, Luxembourg and Onesto, cannot be discounted again while Nashwa is also right in the mix and has a chance of providing Hollie Doyle with her first winner on Irish soil.

The other Group One contest on today’s card, the Coolmore sponsored Matron Stakes, sees Dermot Weld’s two Classic winning fillies do battle against each other for the first time. Weld runs last year’s Irish 1000 Guineas winner Homeless Songs as well as this year’s winner of that event Tahiyra.

Chris Hayes is sticking with the younger filly, Tahiyra, who arrives here looking for a hat-trick of Group One wins having been given a break since her Coronation Stakes victory at Royal Ascot in June. She is a worthy favourite.

All eyes will be on Diego Valazquez in the Group Two Juvenile Stakes. This £2.4 million son of Frankel was most impressive on debut at the Curragh last month and represents Aidan O’Brien who won this race 12 months ago with Auguste Rodin. Anything other than a victory will be a shock, but his odds will reflect this.

A better betting proposition from the same stable is Adelaide River (4.30pm) in the Group Three Paddy Power Stakes. This fellow gave Auguste Rodin a major fright in the Irish Derby and again ran a very good race when second to the highly regarded Feed The Flame in another Group One at Longchamp. A reproduction of either of those efforts would see Adelaide River win this lesser contest.

One horse that could outrun his odds this afternoon is the Ger Lyons-trained Imaginarium in the Petango Handicap (5.05pm). Lyons and his stable jockey Colin Keane have a very good record at this meeting and this lightly-raced 4-y-o could be underestimated racing off a rating of 91. He was described by Lyons, after winning a late season 3-y-o handicap at the Curragh last year, as a National Hunt style horse that would need time to fulfil his potential.

Imaginarium showed little when upped to Listed class for his seasonal debut, but caught the eye when a staying on sixth in a similar contest to this at the Galway Festival. The stable’s runners look to be hitting form on the run up to this meeting and a decent performance can be expected.

Hotrocket (5.40pm) is another horse running today that was last seen at the Galway Festival. This Joseph O’Brien-trained charge went to Galway on a hat-trick, but got no luck in running around that tight circuit. Dropped three pounds after that effort and once again with apprentice sensation Conor Stone-Walsh in the saddle a big run looks assured.

If you are betting at Leopardstown today please gamble responsibly and if you have any concerns relating to gambling check out dunlewey.org for more information.