THE EMERALD EDGE

Top Irish pundit Kurtis Gillespie gives us our weekly dose of Sunday racing tips straight from Ireland.

13:30 THURLES

This Grade 2 is going to have huge implications for the Mares’ Chase at Cheltenham with likely favourite being Only By Night for Gavin Cromwell who has been a revelation since jumping the larger obstacles. Her biggest market rival looks to be Spindleberry, trained by the all-conquering Willie Mullins who only just scraped home on her chase debut in Cork. Preference is for ONLY BY NIGHT who is aiming to stamp her authority on the division and become one of the market favourites come Cheltenham.

ONLY BY NIGHT (WIN)

14:05 THURLES 

Another Grade 2 chase on the card, this time for the boys. The head of the market is likely to be dominated by Willie Mullins with Blood Destiny and former Supreme winner Appreciate It. Grand National 2nd Delta Work also lines up with the target surely being the big day in April. It could be worth siding with the younger generation in this race. BLOOD DESTINY is the youngest in the race at 6 years old and has plenty of merit to his novice chasing form in beating and finishing 2nd to subsequent John Durkan runner-up Spillane’s Tower. 

BLOOD DESTINY (WIN)

written by Kurtis Gillespie.