Gowran Park Racecourse: preview and tips for Wednesday's bumper eight-race card

The first of two days of racing this week at Gowran Park arrives on Wednesday with a competitive eight-race card on offer for punters heading to the track.

Gowran’s card gets underway at 1.30pm with a seven furlong contest for three-year-old’s before coming to a close at 5.25pm when a field of 11 tackle the mile and a five furlong handicap.

Read below for a full rundown of the Gowran Card courtesy of BetVictor Online Casino.

A small field of four will tackle the opener on Wednesday's card (1.30) and this one can go the way of Controlled for trainer Daniel Murphy, a winner at Naas in September last year and resumed his progress having left the powerful Aidan O’Brien yard when runner up last time out at the same venue so is taken to go one better here. Speaking of O’Brien, his runner here Neolithic was a good third in a Listed Curragh contest on season return so rates the main danger.

An auction maiden is up next at Gowran Park over seven furlongs (2.05) with the three-year-old’s once again taking centre stage. The Noel Meade-trained Bobby Mcgee is the selection here, a good third behind Puerto Rico at the Curragh and has since been gelded and with his yard in decent form too, has a very strong chance here of going a couple of spots better.

Eleven runners will head to the stalls for the three-year-old handicap over seven furlongs for race three on the card (2.40) and it could pay to head with Andrew Slattery’s Aurora Mist, a good fourth at Galway to bring her last campaign to a close and with the yard in good order to start the new campaign, is certainly worth taking a look at.

Sinmara was a huge 400,000 Guineas purchase for connections and sent to the Joseph O’Brien yard and she lines up for race four (3.15) with much bigger targets on the horizon with entries in the Irish 2000 Guineas and Irish Oaks further down the line. She was a promising third on debut in a Curragh maiden last October and makes a seasonal return here where she will come against Aidan O’Brien’s Wedding, a hefty €350,000 buy as a yearling herself and makes a racecourse debut for the all-conquering Coolmore yard.

Coincidental Glory is the selection in race five (3.50) for trainer Ado McGuinness, a winner of a 13-runner nursery contest 112 days ago when last on track and this is a good chance to follow up, while race six (4.25) can head the way of Greydreambeliever for the Joseph O’Brien yard, without a win in 11 starts but was a good third at Newmarket last season in her final run before moving to the O’Brien so represents a strong contender.

A decent field of 14 will tackle the penultimate race of the day (4.55) and this looks a good chance for Matt Connor to make a good return to the Flat for trainer Phillip Dempsey, a winner of a 13-runner handicap over hurdles in January and has won on the level before in 2023.

Finally, the Gowran meeting on Wednesday comes to a close at 5.25 as a field of 11 head to post for the mile and five furlong handicap and of the field, preference heads the way of Light Up The Dark, who could make it a treble on the day for Joseph O’Brien, off the back of a good fourth at Bellewstown when last seen and is another reverting back to the Flat after a spell over obstacles.

Gowran Park selections - Wednesday 

1.30 - Controlled 

2.05 - Bobby Mcgee 

2.40 - Aurora Mist 

3.15 - Sinmara 

3.50 - Coincidental Glory 

4.25 - Greydreambeliever 

4.55 - Matt Connor 

5.25 - Light Up The Dark