LEOPARDSTOWN was the only turf meeting that took place in the week following Easter and conditions at the track were notably tough for their trials card last Sunday; not only was the ground testing but the remnants of Storm Kathleen meant a strong headwind in the straight.

The sectional times provided by Course Track – available on the Racing TV website – confirm that most horses on the day finishing slowly with just four of the 91 runners on the card completing in a finishing percentage of 100% or higher, highly unusual for Leopardstown where the par finishing speed is around 100% for all distances.

These conditions are rarely repeated, so the form of some races is suspect but one horse that did come close to that par of 100% was Battle Cry, winner of the Ballylinch Stud Red Rocks Stakes, or 2000 Guineas Trial in old money.

His 27.79 seconds split for the final two furlongs was the fastest on the card and he was visually impressive in sweeping down the outside from rear, but this was a strange contest, almost two races in one.

Take Me To Church over-raced in the lead and took the field along at a good pace for conditions before the first-time blinkered My Mate Alfie swept to the lead very early on the turn-in, only for the two Ballydoyle colts that had a lot to do early in the straight to sweep through and pull five lengths clear.

Value of the form

The value of the form is also lessened by the top-rated horses in the field, the Killavullan one-two Atlantic Coast and Bright Stripes, not running their races and filling the last two positions, the former particularly disappointing given he had been strong in the late betting and moved into the race well, trading at 1.51 in running.

Perhaps Battle Cry has improved over the winter, and the runner-up Samuel Colt had looked promising on debut (though it is a concern that he has no big race entries at present), but it would be unusual for Aidan O’Brien to run an incipient star in this race. He has won it 10 times since 1997 but never with his better colts.

Ryan Moore employed similar tactics on Buttons in the Ballylinch Stud Priory Belle Stakes but the fillies did not come back as much as the colts had, though this was still a fine effort to finish from one having just her second start and her first since early June last year, while her stablemate and fourth home Greenfinch is one to keep in mind up in trip.

The finish here was fought out by A Lilac Rolla and Kitty Rose, Paddy Twomey’s winner coping well with ground much slower than she faced as a juvenile, her strong travelling style as effective as it had been in a lower grade.

Group winners

Kitty Rose had been a somewhat disappointing favourite on her final start at the Curragh last season but a return to seven furlongs at a track she had won at before brought about an improved effort, and she is probably worth marking up as she had to work to get across from a wide stall in the early part of the race.

This trial for fillies has a much better historical record of throwing up group winners than the race for colts and in the last five runnings alone, has produced the likes of Matilda Picotte, Zarinsk, Homeless Songs, Lady Kaya, Iridessa and Alpha Centauri.

Ballysax

The Ballysax Stakes is not the race it has been, though that will hardly bother connections of Dallas Star who landed a shock victory, albeit that the form is questionable.

Dallas Star completed the race in an overall time 0.78 seconds faster than Chantilly (carried 3lb more) in the following handicap, but the handicapper was notably faster (2.1 seconds) in the final three furlongs, a better performance on times.

None of the Ballydoyle trio that made up 60% of the field seemed ready, all of them in bother between the four- and three-furlong poles, while Deepone found very little having travelled smoothly into the straight.

FEW races have changed more than the Grand National in recent years and there are more changes afoot this year, some by design from the organisers and others coming from external forces.

The earlier start time is a cosmetic move with the smaller safety limit a more meaningful alteration, but surely the biggest change to the race is the Irish overrunning of the field. The year-by-year table opposite shows how the Irish stranglehold on the field has tightened in the last 10 runnings:

There will be more Irish runners in the race than ever before this year with 26 of the 34 runners (76.4%) trained here and while some of the British challenge is strong, not least last year’s winner Corach Rambler, an Irish winner is long odds-on with nine of the top 12 in the betting from Ireland. My two against the field are Meetingofthewaters and Delta Work. Meetingofthewaters is more of a modern winner of the race, being an unexposed novice with few runs in handicaps.

Strong form

His jumping has been assured thus far however and he travelled well in the Ultima before getting outpaced then keeping on in the style of one that would stay further. That was effectively his first run since a Paddy Power Chase win that looks strong form, and he gets to run off the same mark as Cheltenham.

Delta Work has twice run in the race, going fine when unseating at the 21st last year after a good third in the race in 2022, perhaps making his move sooner than ideal. He has not been as his best this season, but his mark has dropped from 171 to 157 and the ground, likely to be very soft, is in his favour.

THE winning efforts at the Fairyhouse Easter meeting were covered here last week but with so little turf racing since, it might be worth mentioning a few that ran well in defeat and might be for the tracker, if that is your thing.

The opening maiden hurdle of the meeting looked strong for the time of year and there were a few that caught the eye, none more than the seventh Lovely Hurling.

Having his first run of any sort, he travelled smoothly and was going as well as anything turning in, only to make a bad mistake two out which emptied him and he could easily have been the second or third best horse behind the wide margin winner.

A pair of hold-up horses fought out the INH Stallion Owners Novice Handicap Hurdle Final but the third Kinturk Kalanisi shaped well ridden closer to the pace, moving smoothly to the lead two out only to be picked off late. He has improved as the season has gone on and is a fine novice chase prospect for big race winner Tom Gibney.

Jade De Grugy and Jetara brought graded form into the Honeysuckle Mares’ Novice Hurdle on the Sunday, but they were split in the finish by the less experienced Spindleberrry who not only made her move sooner than ideal but was also off a short break.