Morning all,

The action switches from the jumpers to the flat on day three of the Listowel Festival. The feature race of an eight-race card is the Listed Edmund & Josie Whelan Memorial Listowel Stakes (4.37). This side of the Irish Sea, there’s an afternoon flat card at Beverley, all weather action at Lingfield and a jumps card at Warwick. The Tuesday racing is completed by a twilight card at Newcastle.  

Inside today’s main piece, you’ll find two handicappers for the tracker who can win a race before the season is over. Plus, I have had a brief look at the last three races at Listowel.

Two for the tracker

Both this week's eyecatchers ran at Ayr's Western Meeting.

Aleezdancer – Kevin Ryan

Aleezdancer, twice a winner in May, bounced back from a poor run on his nursery debut at York last month. The gelding produced much better effort when a 3 ½ length 4^th of 15 at Ayr on Thursday. He did best of those drawn high in the 6f nursery handicap and travelled through the race like he can win a handicap in the coming weeks. Both his career wins have come on good to soft going so the good to firm ground would have been plenty quick enough for him. His ability to act on rain softened ground looks a positive with the rest of the season in mind.

Fame And Acclaim – Les Eyre

A useful handicapper when trained in Ireland by Joseph O’Brien. He hasn’t reached his best Irish form since switching to his present yard in the June but there have been enough signs that he can win a race. He was only a 3 ¼ length 7^th of 10 behind Revich at Ayr on Saturday. However, it was a decent quality handicap and the way the race was run meant it wasn’t easy to come from behind. The likes of Hong Kong Harry (2^nd) and Cruyff Turn (4^th) both met trouble in the run when trying to come from the rear. Likewise, Fame And Acclaim wasn’t best placed and met trouble when making his effort 2f from home. He’s on a competitive mark and given he handles testing ground he remains one to be interested in mile handicap between now and the end of the season.

Tuesday racing

The going on Listowel’s flat track is being described as Yielding (Yielding to Soft in places).

Listowel

4:37 – Edmund & Josie Whelan Memorial Listowel Stakes (Listed Race) – 1m 1f

Roca Roma looks sure to be a popular choice to give the inform Ger Lyons another winner. The 4-year-old a winner at Killarney two starts back. Improved to run Pearls Galore to 1 ¾ lengths when 2^nd of 15 in a Group 3 at Tipperary last time and the winner has since gone close in a Group 1 at Leopardstown. No issues with the ground for the filly and she's the one they must beat.

At bigger odds I prefer the claims of Visualisation. The 3-year-old didn’t seem to stay 1m 2f in Group 3 company last time. However, he’s better judged on his 2 ½ length 2^nd of 14 behind Foxes Tales in a Royal Ascot handicap. The slight drop in trip should suit as will the rain softened ground. In fact, he won’t mind if the ground was to ease further given his best four RPR’s have come on soft or heavy ground.

5:10 – Irish Stallion Farms EBF Premier Nursery Handicap (Premier Handicap) – 1m

Given the form of the Jessica Harrington yard 18 winners from 61 runners 30% + 76.48 in the past 14-days. It would be a brave punter who dismissed the claims of her runner Tut Tut in this nursery handicap. A winner of a Leopardstown maiden two starts back. She disappointed on her nursery debut at the Curragh last time but could easily bounce back here

The two likely market leaders Cycleman & Butterfly Island both get blinkers for their nursery debuts, However, they do need the first-time headgear to eke out improvement to win off their present marks.

5:40 – Listowel Arms Hotel Handicap – 1m

The softer the ground the better for Comfort Line who looks on a competitive mark.

Starting Monday was said to have not handled the track or the quick ground when a beaten favourite at Ballinrobe 92-days ago. Today’s softer ground is a plus and he’s been given a break to freshen up. A winner on his seasonal return in March and looks set for a big run here. 

Fil The Power is a consistent enough handicapper, albeit he doesn’t find winning easy. The 4-year-old finished a length 3^rd of 17 at Leopardstown on his last flat start. A reproduction of that performance would see him go close here.

Tuesday selections:

Here are my two fancies from the Listowel card.

Listowel

4:37 – Visualisation – 7/1 @ Paddy Power & Betfair Sportsbook

5:40 – Fil The Power – 15/2 @ Coral & Ladbrokes

Good luck with your Tuesday bets.

John

John Burke is the tipster behind the long standing Victor Value service you can join him here – https://victorvalue.uk