Red Piper confident choice in top event

The feature on the third day of Killarney is the £10,000 Heineken Handicap, an 11 furlong contest that looks a good opportunity…

The feature on the third day of Killarney is the £10,000 Heineken Handicap, an 11 furlong contest that looks a good opportunity for Red Piper to go in again.

Anyone who saw this filly dance in by five lengths in a handicap on the first day of the Curragh Derby weekend will be reluctant to oppose her.

Niall McCullagh produced Red Piper for a run at the two furlong pole, and the race was as good as over. She cruised home five lengths clear of Hayward, with Look West, who opposes again this evening, two and a half lengths further back in third and Dabtara fifth.

Red Piper has to carry 10lb more for winning that race and may not appreciate any noticeable drying of the ground, but all things being equal, she should be capable of making it two from two.

READ MORE

Red Piper's trainer Edward O'Grady could also be on the mark with Blown Away in the River Rock Handicap Chase; and if Black Rock City shows some of his best form from the past, he will be hard to beat in the claiming race.

Lanturn bounced back from a slightly disappointing effort at Bellewstown to win a maiden by an easy 11 lengths at Roscommon and should have no problems coping with the two and three quarter miles of the Hotel Europe Long Distance Hurdle.

Miss Barcelona will be fancied to go close in the O'Shea Handicap, but preference is for Dermot Weld's Shadeed filly Shyam, who is making her first start in handicap company.

An interesting runner in the last is The Card King, who was fifth to the subsequent Prix Lupin winner, Croco Rouge, in his only run as a two-year-old at Longchamp. He has clearly got ability, but slight preference is for the decent bumper horse It's Time For A Win.

Dragon Triumph provided Curragh handler Jim Gorman and Clondalkin-born rider Robbie Fitzgerald with their biggest success to date when landing the featured Ulster Harp Derby at Down Royal yesterday.

Sent to the front by the 22-yearold Dubliner over three-quarters of a mile from home, the 12 to 1 chance, carrying the colours of English banker Timothy Beardson, stayed on resolutely in the straight to hold off Renge by two-and-half lengths.

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor is the racing correspondent of The Irish Times. He also writes the Tipping Point column