Brighterdaysahead © Photo Healy Racing
The Irish National Hunt season goes up a gear with two days of quality action at Down Royal beginning this afternoon with a seven-race card highlighted by the Grade 3 Bottlegreen Hurdle.
Gordon Elliott has won four of the last five renewals of the €50,000 feature and the Cullentra trainer this time relies on Brighterdaysahead.
The Kapgarde mare tasted her only defeat when runner-up to Golden Ace at the Cheltenham Festival but bounced back in style the following month with a Grade 1 success in the Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle.
Daddy Long Legs is the obvious threat among her five rivals and has the benefit of a recent run having scored at Tipperary last month.
There is further Grade 3 action on the card with the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Feathard Lady Mares Novice Hurdle where Savante, Mystical Goddess and Royal Hollow are among the chief contenders.
The action gets underway at 12.25pm and the going remains good to yielding with a dry forecast and temperatures around 15C.
There is also the regular Friday evening Flat meeting under the lights at Dundalk with an eight-race card beginning at 5pm.
