Several Grade 1 winners return to the track at Navan on Sunday and the Racing Post's Robbie Wilders advises four bets.
12.45 Navan
Flame Bearer @ SP
1pt win
1.20 Navan
Three Card Brag @ SP
1pt win
1.55 Navan
Bob Olinger @ 13/8
1pt win
2.30 Navan
Andy Dufresne @ SP
1pt win
Flame a red-hot chasing prospect
Flame Bearer is one of my horses to follow this season and I'm excited to see how he fares on his first start over fences in the 2m1f beginners' chase (12.45).
This seven-year-old reached a high level for Pat Doyle last season, claiming two Grade 2 novice hurdles before advancing his form once more with a fine second to the top-class State Man at Punchestown.
It is interesting that Flame Bearer has joined Willie Mullins and it would be a surprise if the master trainer failed to improve this already high-class sort.
Flame Bearer is bred for fences and the expectation is he takes high rank in this sphere.
Three Card Brag holds the aces
The Grade 3 Gibney's For Auction Novice Hurdle (1.20) is another decent race and I fancy Three Card Brag.
I thought Sandor Clegane was a good thing in the 2m maiden hurdle at Galway last month won by Three Card Brag and he made a high-class bumper horse, whose form tied in with the brilliant Facile Vega, look quite ordinary there.
That was Three Card Brag's first start over hurdles and just the second of his life, so there should be ample improvement to come and trainer Gordon Elliott spoke highly of this five-year-old in his recent Racing Post stable tour.
Elliott has landed three of the last six runnings of this contest and can claim another one, with Three Card Brag's Jack Kennedy-ridden stablemate Imagine lacking the same level of form.
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Redemption time for Bob
The Grade 2 Lismullen Hurdle (1.55) is the standout prize of the day and I'll be taking on dual Stayers' Hurdle winner Flooring Porter.
2m4f is sharp enough for Flooring Porter and he needs to defy a Grade 1 winner's penalty for a race he fell in last season.
Top-class two-miler Zanahiyr is an interesting alternative as I've long thought he could make his name over this trip and beyond.
However, I'll be siding with Bob Olinger. A brilliant novice hurdler, he never really took to fences last campaign and arrives on a retrieval mission after a fortunate victory at the Cheltenham Festival before he pulled up at Punchestown.
Bob Olinger easily won a Grade 1 over this course and distance from the smart Blue Lord over hurdles a while back and it is far too early to give up on this supreme talent.
Henry de Bromhead managed to bring Envoi Allen back to the top of his game in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal last weekend and I fancy the trainer to pull off a similar feat with Bob Olinger.
Dufresne to take no prisoners
The returning Ferny Hollow will take plenty of beating in the Grade 2 Fortria Chase (2.30), even under a hefty penalty, but I'll be supporting Andy Dusfresne instead.
The Gordon Elliott-trained eight-year-old is rated 157 over fences and can go close on these terms.
The feeling is Andy Dufresne remains open to a little more improvement, and he ran a nice race in this last campaign.
The fact he was conceding 7lb to a higher-rated chaser in Captain Guinness (13lb worse off this time) meant his runner-up effort was perfectly respectable.
Andy Dufresne then ran a corker off near top weight in the Grand Annual at the Cheltenham Festival, succumbing only to a well-handicapped sort in Global Citizen.
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