In form rivals do battle in Wexford opener Four last-time-out winners do battle in opening novice hurdle at Wexford on Wednesday evening. Dermot McLoughlin’s Commander Won opened his account over jumps in good style at Kilbeggan a fortnight ago and the Gordon Elliott-trained Crezic won at the same venue on his latest appearance back in April. One In All In was a shock 33-1 winner at Down Royal and bids to prove that was no fluke for Henry de Bromhead, but perhaps the most interesting runner of all is Exchange Rate. The six-year-old son of Monsun won a Downpatrick bumper and a Flat maiden at the Galway Festival last summer for the all-conquering Willie Mullins team and although he has not been seen in competitive action for almost a year, that is unlikely to be a major issue. Antimatter bids to complete a hat-trick on his return from a lengthy absence in the two-mile handicap hurdle. Donncha Duggan won at Thurles and over this course and distance last October and he has obvious claims of fit enough to do himself justice. The nine-year-old is up against two other course and distance winners in Mr Picotee and Coolfighter. Roconga looks the one to beat in the beginners chase. Trained by Edward O’Grady for leading owner JP McManus, the son of Rakti has been placed on six of his eight starts over fences without managing to get his head in front. His latest effort over fences, when finishing third behind Light That and Robin Des Foret, reads well in the context of this lesser event. De Bromhead runs Gangster and Ornua and the former is comfortably the highest-rated horse in the field with a chase mark of 141. However, he has not won since the backend of 2015 and his most recent effort at Kilbeggan was particularly disappointing. The 15,000 euro two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase is the most valuable race on the card. Jessica Harrington’s Fintara made it third time lucky over the larger obstacles at this track in early May and an opening perch of 110 for his handicap debut looks workable.
