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Sunday’s Bar 1 Betting Troytown Handicap Chase is shaping up to form an excellent centrepiece of the Navan Racing Festival this weekend.
A total of 23 runners stood their ground at Tuesday’s forfeit stage for the prestigious Grade 3 event.
Successful in the race seven times since 2014, local trainer Gordon Elliott still has ten engaged in the €100,000 contest. His most recent two winners of the race both won at 20/1, so respect is due to all his runners.
“It is a great race, one that has been very lucky for us. We want to support it as much as we can and we will run as many horses as we can,” Elliott said at a gallops morning at the track last week.
Elliott’s three most prominent contenders in the early markets are The Enabler (6/1), third on his last start in the Irish Grand National in April; The Wallpark (7/1), a Grade 2 runner-up here last year and Better Days Ahead (8/1) who has Grade 2 winning form at this course and distance.
The Cullentra stable is also home to Firefox (20/1) at the top of the weights on 11st 12lb. Firefox is also engaged in the Grade 2 Bar 1 Betting Fortria Chase on Saturday.
Letos, the ante-post 5/1 favourite, is preparing to make his first start for another local trainer Noel Meade. He was a listed winner over hurdles this time last year and placed fourth in the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham in March. However, he was 8lbs out of the handicap at Tuesday’s latest stage.
Win Some Lose Some (10/1), trained by Padraig Roche, might also be worth paying attention to in the J.P. McManus silks. He was last seen when second in a big handicap chase at the Dublin Racing Festival in February.
Uhavemeinstitches (14/1), stabled with James Motherway and a Grade 3 winner on slow ground last year, is one of many more that could make their presence felt.
The Bar 1 Betting Fortria Chase at Navan on Saturday has the Elliott-trained Found A Fifty seeking a hat-trick in the Grade 2 race, but he may be joined by Grade 1 winners Majborough and Solness.
The Jimmy & Sheila Owens Irish EBF Beginners’ Chase, also on Saturday, is a race that has launched the chasing careers of numerous Grade 1 stars in recent years. Last season’s Cheltenham and Punchestown Festival Grade 1 winning hurdler King Rasko Grey is poised to make his much-anticipated debut over fences.
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