Irish Grand National: McManus targets Fairyhouse contest

News / Timeform / 27 March 2012 / Leave a Comment

Fairyhouse stages the Irish Grand National on April 9.

"Both of them have come out of their respective races well and providing we get some rain they are likely to head to Fairyhouse..."

JP McManus has a strong hand in the Irish Grand National with ante-post Groody Hill set to be joined by his Cheltenham Festival winner Alfie Sherrin and Pertemps Final runner-up Catch Me at Fairyhouse on April 9...

Groody Hill, who will carry 10st 9lb, is trained by Christy Roche and won three in a row before Christmas, finishing up with a third-place finish at Leopardstown on his latest start.

The 69 entries include last year's winner Organisedconfusion and top-weight Seabass, who are both likely to run in the Aintree equivalent. McManus last landed the race in 2007 with Butler's Cabin.

Of Alfie Sherrin and Catch Me, racing manager Frank Berry said: "Both of them have come out of their respective races well and providing we get some rain they are likely to head to Fairyhouse."

Gigginstown House Stud, the other powerhouse owners in Irish National Hunt racing, are also likely to be well represented.

Racing manager Eddie O'Leary said: "We will hopefully run Magnanimity, who has really come back to himself recently, and Start Me Up is also another likely runner as are Gates of Rome and Crash, who both have possible Limerick engagements first."

Four Commanders is another in the mix for the team.

Cadogan would be bidding to give Jim Dreaper a fourth win in the race, having previously won it with Colebridge in 1974 and Brown Lad in 1975, 1976 and 1978.

"We have had some leg trouble with him but we are delighted to have won some races with him over the years," said Dreaper.

"The National has such a great prize on offer that we had to go for it, but he will obviously be very ground dependent."

Noel Meade has said at this stage it is likely Paul Carberry will ride Cross Appeal (10st 7lb).

"He is in really good form, we don't mind if the rain stays away for him or Fisher Bridge, but we would only run Medical Card if the ground came up on the soft side," Meade explained.

British entries include Cappa Bleu, Giles Cross, Le Beau Bai, Aigle d'Or, Midnight Haze and Master Overseer.

Noel O'Brien, Irish senior National Hunt handicapper, said: "Of the 69 entries, 64 of them are in the handicap and this will make for a very competitive renewal of the contest.

"It has attracted the top handicappers in the UK and Ireland, so it is sure to be a very exciting race."

The highlight of Sunday's card at the Fairyhouse festival is the Powers Gold Cup, which has attracted the promising novices Flemenstar and Rathlin, while Nicky Henderson's Cheltenham winner Bellvano has been entered in Tuesday's Dan Moore Memorial Chase.

Sir Henry Cecil remains of the opinion that Frankel could be an even better horse this year than he was during his incredible three-year-old campaign......

So You Think and Aidan O'Brien's large contingent of Dubai runners have arrived safely in the Gulf ahead of Saturday's World Cup meeting......

Gordon Elliott is happy with Chicago Grey's preparation ahead of the Grand National......

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ODI Betting: Sri Lanka to edge scrappy contest

ODI preview / Andrew Hughes / 16 February 2012 / Leave a Comment

New boy Forrest can top score

"This match marks the half-way stage of the competition and with just 2 points from 3 games so far, Sri Lanka desperately need a win."

After their tie against India, it's crunch time for the Sri Lankans, but Andrew Hughes believes they can get the better of the hosts on Friday

February 17, Australia v Sri Lanka, Sydney, Live on Sky Sports 1, 03:20 GMT

Team News
Michael Clarke will miss this game with a hamstring injury so Ricky Ponting will take over the captaincy. Ryan Harris had a poor match last time and has been rested, whilst Michael Hussey, Brett Lee and Ben Hilfenhaus have all been called up. If he can prove his fitness, Lee will take Harris's spot and it will be between Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Starc for the remaining fast bowling position.

Sri Lanka have a settled top six but they have plenty of bowlers to choose from. They went with a two specialist spinner strategy against India and it nearly came off, so they will probably stick with that. Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara are fixtures in this format and Thisara Perera's ability with the bat will probably keep him in the side ahead of Farveez Maharoof and Chanaka Welegedara.

Venue and Conditions
Sydney is a tricky ground to weigh up. It can be a high scoring venue by Australian standards, as demonstrated last year when Australia chased down England's total of 333. But whilst a score of 270 is probably about par, there have been some dramatic collapses in recent ODIs at the ground and both fast bowlers and spinners have had some joy there. Interestingly, Sri Lanka have won 4 of their last 6 ODIs at the SCG.

Match Odds
This match marks the half-way stage of the competition and with just 2 points from 3 games so far, Sri Lanka desperately need a win. They have been bowling pretty well, they just haven't done well enough with the bat and key players like Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara just haven't had the impact that we'd expect.

Australia have a couple of wins under their belt already, but they haven't looked convincing in either of their last two games and the fact that they weren't able to defend a total of 269 against India on Sunday was a concern. The return of Brett Lee should sharpen their bowling up, but given that none of the Australian top three are batting well at the moment, the absence of Michael Clarke is a blow.

With neither top order in any kind of form, this is likely to be a low-scoring affair. These two teams fought out a last over thriller the last time they met and I'd expect this to be another closely matched contest, so in the circumstances, the [2.88] about the tourists is far more appealing than the [1.53] on offer for Australia.

Top Australian Batsman
We can't be sure where Matthew Wade will bat and both David Warner and Ricky Ponting are out of form at the moment. This leaves us with new boy Peter Forrest or the Hussey brothers. Forrest hit a solid half-century on debut and is worth a look at tempting odds of [7.5] or so.

Top Sri Lankan Batsman
Neither of the Sri Lankan openers has yet hit form and Kumar Sangakkara doesn't seem himself either. Dinesh Chandimal is the man in form and Angelo Mathews has hit some quick runs from the number six position but there were signs from Mahela Jayawardene that he was finding his touch in the last game and the captain is the one to be on at [6.0] or better.

Featured Market
Since we're predicting a low scoring game, we can capitalise by backing 'Under 82.5' in the 'Highest Individual Score' market at [1.8] or better.

Recommended Bet
Sri Lanka to beat Australia at 2.88

Sri Lanka are yet to win a game in this tournament and this could be a good chance to do just that. They'll need a big knock from their skipper Mahela Jayawardene and they might just get that, says Richard...

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