Naas Sunday Preview - 30/01/22

Willie Mullins with another nice one again.. this horse absolutely bolted up on chase debut when making all over 2m7f at Punchestown, winning by 21L.

He was helped by his stablemate crashing out of things 2 out, however I think he was holding him and clearly had plenty left - he was heavily eased at the finish.

He's comparatively unexposed in this field and will improve again on his second start over fences.

He looked a natural at Punchestown. He jumped with zest and fluency, and he could well be overlooked in the market. 

Saint Felicien is an unexposed type. He's only had the two starts so you can hope there's still plenty more to come from this well bred French import.

He won very easily in a good race in Auteuil on debut and subsequently changed hands and is unbeaten to date. Latterly he took a hot novice hurdle in stylish fashion, winning by 2 and a quarter lengths, but was value for the winning margin. His rivals look to have hit their ceiling of ability, whereas this Saint Des Saints gelding can only get better.

Gordon Elliot is in good form and is an expert with a horse of this profile.

Looks the one to beat.

Noel Meade is one of the best in the business turning good flat horses into even better NH horses. Evergreen And Red is a dual winner on the flat, and has placed in some good competitive handicaps as well.

This son of Requinto is also a half brother to a 2m hurdle winner. You can expect him to improve for his first run over hurdles but this is a moderate contest to say the least and he was one of the best on the level in this field and will certainly go well here for a trainer who's an expert with this type of horse.

I'm more than happy to give this 4y/o a good mention here, and I would expect a reasonable price and he should be bang there at the finish.

Womalko is likely to be a warm order for this but the predicted market confidence in him isn't misplaced. He won his last race at Limerick by 4L, very comfortably and off a mark of 109 today, there's still a great deal of improvement to come. I think he's very well handicapped for JP McManus.

Mark Walsh takes the ride and on jockey bookings looks to be first string here for the juggernaut JP.

The step down in trip doesn't look like it will hinder this strong travelling son of Balko, he should be build on his last win and go in again.

There doesn't seem to be a horse as well handicapped as him in this field so he should have too much in hand, and at the weights looks a rock solid pick.