Ancora and Dean to star before Shelbourne Gold Cup decider
HIGH class racing both sides of the Irish Sea on Saturday although star billing has to go to Shelbourne Park which has the final of the Tote Gold Cup over 525 yards.
Ian Fortune's race-by-race preview is linked below, suffice to say his chief selections are Jack Kennelly's top class sprinter Sogna Ancora (8.03) and Brendan O'Shea's Crossfield Dean (8.18) with Liam Dowling's Solo And Go fancied to overcome a tough-looking draw in the feature at 9.24.
Jonathan Kay
Other supporting race suggestions from this quarter are the Robert Gleeson duo of Droopys Painting (8.48) and Droopys Kathleen (9.40) who is making her first Irish start since November 2024 having broken the Shelbourne Park 525 yards track record earlier that month.
There is earlier afternoon Irish action on SIS at Youghal were the strongest fancy, and nap of the day, is Nioclas Walsh's Its Paddys Wish in an A4 over 525 yards at 2.08.
He does owe punters having been a beaten favourite six times since an A3 success in December but his record at this level is two wins in three starts, the sole defeat coming when caught close home.
Other Youghal picks are Danny Kelleher's Corrin Danny (3.03) and Pat Budds' Renata in a kennelstakes final at 3.41.
Principal UK meeting is at Oxford which has the heats of theultimatetipster.com Sandy Lane Sprint over 253m with the suggestions being Craig Morris' Nightingale Crew (7.14), Maxine Locke's Move Over Harry (7.31), Kevin Hutton's Jazzy George (8.26) and Richard Rees' unbeaten Avarua Lake (9.01).
Hutton's Venetian Mick is taken to last home in a stayers' final over 650m at 8.09 with earlier one-off picks being his Jazzy Ace (6.39) plus Dave Lewis' seven-timer seeking Alright Twinkle (6.04) and Shaun Gresham's Ballymac Madgie (6.21).
There is also evening opening action at Doncaster's where non-maiden suggestions are Jimmy Gaskin's Clonoon Ansar (6.11), Sam Lapidge's Gothic Joshua (7.42) and Martin Haythorne's Rapido Ana (8.16) with Gaskin's Keefill Storm (12.04) the pick at the earlier all-graded morning fixture there.
Finally, Star Pelaw's evening fixture has six opens with Daniel Bell's Nah Then Keefill (7.28) fancied to follow up last week's impressive sprint victory, while Tom Heilbron's Unanimous Leon adds a touch of class to proceedings in a 435m open at 8.06.
Its Paddys Wish (nap)
T6 Youghal 2.08
Trainer stats minimum requirement - 10 runners during 14-day period to 22/02/26
