Irish Horse Racing Tips – Best Bets on the Cork and Downpatrick Friday Cards

Downpatrick & Cork Horse Racing Tips – Friday, May 6

The action in Ireland on Friday centres around Cork’s seven-race Flat card, plus a fine supporting meeting at Downpatrick, which hosts a seven-race Jumps card. Our Irish horse racing expert has identified his top bets on the day which you can check out below.

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Alice Kitty (6.50 Downpatrick)

The best bet on Downpatrick’s Friday afternoon Jumps card comes on the tracks extended 2m1f ITBA Supporting Northern Breeders Mares’ Handicap Hurdle, where ALICE KITTY lines up for Gordon Elliott and Jordan Gainford.

This filly was a Flat winner for Jessica Harrington last summer, and after a slow initial start to her hurdling career, she caught the eye when third at Sedgefield in September.

That form has worked out exceptionally well since with the winner Knight Salute going in at Grade 1 level and Alice Kitty was last seen finishing fifth at Punchestown, where she just got outpaced on the sprint to the line.

This additional yardage looks a likely plus on that evidence, and a mark of 93 surely underestimates this filly on the pick of her form. Alice Kitty appears as a horse best suited to these good ground conditions, and therefore looks well worth siding with to land Friday’s prize.

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Baradar (7.00 Cork)

Cork stages the valuable Mallow Handicap over a straight seven furlongs on Friday, and whilst Mutasarref is likely to prove popular amongst punters stall 1 is a concern and the better bet at the prices appears to be BARADAR.

This Amo Racing 4yo had some top-class juvenile form to his name for Roger Varian which included a third in the Group 1 Vertem Futurity at Doncaster.

A 3yo campaign didn’t go to plan for Baradar, with him beaten 8l or greater in all three outings, but he bounced back when third on stable debut at Tipperary last month, his first start since being gelded.

Baradar faced no real chance on the bare figures that day, but he’s back in handicap company here and out of stall 21 he could be able to blast off near the stands rail, with last year’s 1-2-3 drawn in stalls 24, 18 and 19, it looks about the perfect berth. He rates as the strongest bet on Cork’s Friday card.

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Zalika (7.20 Downpatrick)

Paul Gilligan sends ZALIKA up to Downpatrick on Friday evening to contest their extended 2m3f Racing TV Handicap Chase, and he’s not expected to return empty-handed.

This mare comes into Friday’s race an eleven-race maiden under rules, but she has had precious few opportunities since joining her current yard and ran better than the bare result on chase debut at Wexford last time.

The bare 2m just looked far too short for Zalika that day, but she hasn’t appeared to be a strong stayer over 3m in the past, so this intermediate trip could well prove ideal.

A mark of 86 looks workable (particularly on her hurdles form for Dot Love) and being by Shirocco, getting back on some decent ground is expected to be of great benefit to Zalika.

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Vellner (8.30 Cork)

Cork’s closing race on Friday is the 1m2f Irish Stallion Farms EBF (C & G) Maiden and one that appears to have been somewhat forgotten by the market is VELLNER for Billy Lee and trainer Paddy Twomey.

This son of Galileo Gold is a distant relation on his dam’s side to the likes of Ghaiyyath and Zhukova and looked a potentially useful colt in his own right when fourth in a maiden over today’s course and distance last month.

Vellner just looked a little unsure of his job that day but ultimately wasn’t beaten far and the experience should prove of great benefit to him. Drawn wide in stall 10 that day, Vellner now has stall 1 to his advantage on this turning track and as such it’s a little surprising to see him trading at such a big price in the betting.