Curragh Racecourse: preview and tips for Friday evening’s Flat card

Action returns to the Curragh on Friday evening with a seven-race card that includes the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes as the feature contest.

The fixture gets underway at 5.10pm with a 21-runner six-furlong maiden and finishes over three hours later at 8.25pm with a one-mile handicap.

Read below for a preview of the Curragh card on Friday and selections for each race courtesy of BoyleSports, who offer the latest horse racing odds.

With just the 21 runners to worry about, the opening six-furlong maiden at 5.10 is a challenging race to decipher. At a bigger price, Later Than Planned could be the each-way value. Trained by Adrian McGuinness, his sire is Cotai Glory, who is a good producer of juveniles, and his dam is out of the Group 1 winner Price Tag. That’s a nice pedigree for a horse who cost just 8,000gns as a yearling, and while it’s hard to gauge these two-year-olds on debut, he might be worth chancing.

The action at the Curragh doesn’t get any easier as race two is a 14-runner fillies’ handicap (5.45) over the same course and distance. Island Girl is an interesting contender based on her first three starts in handicap company. Her opening effort of the season was her second handicap outing, and she was a fine fourth on soft to heavy ground. When returning to a sounder surface at Naas in April, she finished a fine third, though better is needed here. She has a rating of 73, which is workable based on her maiden form behind the 103-rated Merrily and 82-rated Oxford Rock.

Race three is a seven-furlong maiden at 6.20, and the Juddmonte silks are represented by Fingerpaint. By Kingman out of the Dansili mare Tempera, a Leopardstown maiden winner for Weld in 2016, she is closely related to the Group 1 winner Set Piece and Listed winner Alocasia. That’s a nice pedigree, and Weld’s yard is in decent shape at the moment. She could be one to follow going forward.

The feature race of the evening is the one-mile two-furlong Group 3 Gallinule Stakes at 6.55. Aidan O’Brien has won three of the last five renewals, but his representative, Shackleton, is lacking race fitness. Therefore, this could leave it to Tiberius Thunder for Adrian Murray. The form of his third in the Group 3 Ballysax Stakes in March is strong thanks to Delacroix, Lambourn, Puppet Master, and Wemightakedlongway, and, crucially, he is race-fit compared to Shackleton. The Night Of Thunder colt has the best form in the race, and he can put that to good use here.

I Am Superman has dropped through the handicap to a mark of 91, and that could be enough to see him win the €50,000 six-furlong handicap at 7.25. He ran a respectable race at Naas in April to finish fourth in a competitive handicap, though he was dropped by three pounds by the handicapper. Considering his peak rating was 104 last year, he looks well-handicapped currently, even more so when you consider his numerous placed efforts in handicaps off 98 and 99. With Jamie Powell’s three-pound claim, he could be the one.

The penultimate contest at 7.55 is a six-furlong fillies maiden, and Gavin Cromwell has a chance of winning this with Bonus Time. The Too Darn Hot filly is still unexposed having finished a fine second on her debut at Cork at the start of this month, and her dam, Karijini, achieved a rating of 90 on the track. She’ll improve for the run fitness-wise, and she could easily get her head in front here.

In the finale at 8.25, a handicap contest over a mile, Pier Pressure could be the one to side with. He ran just 11 days ago, but that saw him finish a fine fourth at Roscommon when staying on through the line. He was kindly dropped three pounds for the effort to an official rating of 75, which is six pounds below his last winning mark. The trip and distance are on his side, and Nicola Burns claims a valuable seven pounds in the saddle.

Friday selections - Curragh 

5.10 - Later Than Planned 

5.45 - Island Girl 

6.20 - Fingerpaint 

6.55 - Tiberius Thunder 

7.25 - I Am Superman 

7.55 - Bonus Time 

8.25 - Pier Pressure