The Irish Grand National final takes place at Harolds Cross this evening. Track record holder Distant Legend is the hot favourite to land the 12,000 euro first prize for owner/trainer Julie Power.
Speed Figs
T4 - Distant Legend 100
T3 - Priceless Paddy 78
T2 - The Other Outlaw 68
T6 - Billsdad Bill 66
T5 - Woodys Express 61
T1 - Comans Joe 51
Distant Legend is well clear on the figures courtesy of his record breaking performance in the second round. Strong stayer Priceless Paddy is next best though he has twice finished behind The Other Outlaw in this competition. Jason Foster's runners always have to be feared over hurdles but his Comans Joe, who took this last year, is going to have to improve on what he's shown so far.
Skydogs Tissue
Using the speed figures as a starting point and considering the impact of the draw and early pace I've come up with the tissue below -
10/11 Distant Legend, 13/2 Billsdad Bill, 17/2 The Other Outlaw, 9/1 Woodys Express, 10/1 Priceless Paddy, 14/1 Comans Joe
The beautifully bred Distant Legend (by Hondo Black out of Oaks winner Talktothehand) is the obvious favourite but the bookies are giving nothing away at 4/5. Billsdad Bill is well drawn and has decent early pace and is fairly priced at 7/1 but it's difficult to see him troubling the favourite. The Other Outlaw is well boxed with the slowly away Comans Joe and Priceless Paddy either side of him, John Brennan's black dog is a touch overpriced at 10's with Ladbrokes. The biggest price difference between my tissue and the layers concerns Comans Joe. Jason Foster is following in the footsteps of his Dad as a master trainer of hurdlers and his charge took this race last year but he's shown nowhere near that level of form recently. I have him as the outsider of the field at 14/1 but the bookies rate him second best at 9/2. He'd definitely be worth taking on at that sort of price but unfortunately Betfair aren't running a market and the spread firms aren't playing either.
Distant Legend is the obvious selection for the race but offers little in the way of value. There are no specials or spreads being offered on the race so it's difficult to find an angle. If I were to play I'd try some forecast/tricast bets with Distant Legend to win backed up with Priceless Paddy, The Other Outlaw and Billsdad Bill, leaving out the poor value Comans Joe could mean a decent payout.
