War Hero© Photo Healy Racing
Dundalk comes to the rescue of rain-hit Irish racing on Friday as the all-weather track presents punters with many challenges on a difficult seven-race card.
Five of the seven events are handicaps, another is a rated/handicap-type race, while the opening Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Maiden is the third juvenile race of the year and, as a result, form is thin.
That opener has attracted seven runners and while both Camacharia and Deep House have experience, both finished out of the prize-money and the winner is likely to come from one of the newcomers.
Willie McCreery is the only trainer with a runner to have finished inside the top 10 in last year's trainers' championship and his Bungle Inthejungle colt Tarrzan could give the handler a second win in the juvenile division this term.
The two featured races are worth €17,000 and the first one, the Racing 11th & 18th April Rated Race, has attracted the smallest field of seven runners but sees no less than four last-time-out winners.
The Patrick Prendergast-trained War Hero might prove best being a proven and progressive course-and-distance scorer, and was a winner at this venue on his latest start in February.
The next race, the D Hotel Handicap, is also worth €17,000 and sees the Godolphin-owned 98-rated Ambassadorial make his return to action following a year off.
However, Michael Halford's four-year-old gelding is possibly best watched under top weight and preference is for the Pat Martin-trained course specialist Reckless Lad
The son of Chevalier comes here in excellent form and is again bidding to become the winning-most horse in Dundalk, having previously registered eight of his nine career wins on the Polytrack.
