Classy hurdler Captain Guinness out to make amends for disappointing chase bow

GAIN Supporting Laois GAA Beginners Chase | 2m | 4yo+ | RTV

There are a couple of different ways of looking at this intriguing beginners' chase. The first would be to draw a line through the chasing debut effort of Captain Guinness at Tipperary and surmise that it was just way too bad to be true.

A more ruthless way of weighing up the form would be to come to the conclusion that Captain Guinness, for all that he is tremendously talented, has a chink in his armour and at the likely prices may be worth siding against.

Henry de Bromhead's charge was the best of these over hurdles having bolted up on his debut at Navan before getting to within a little under a length of Andy Dufresne in a Grade 2 at this track in January.

On his third and final start as a novice hurdler, Captain Guinness was brought down at the third-last when still tanking in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham.

It is hard to imagine too many of his rivals being classy enough to travel into the Supreme in the style he did in March.

While he undoubtedly is the classiest horse in the race, he comes with risks attached having pulled up on his chasing debut at Tipperary, after which he was reported to be clinically abnormal.

If returning to anything near his best, Captain Guinness will be extremely difficult to beat but Midnight Run and Jungle Junction will not make things easy for him.

The Joseph O’Brien-trained Midnight Run ran a fine race on his chasing debut here behind Asterion Forlonge, and if brushing up on his jumping he should be involved, while Jessica Harrington’s Jungle Junction is a nice recruit.

Gavin Cromwell has a three-pronged attack and any market support for Alfa Mix and Calthor would need to be respected while Dakota Beat would appear to have a place chance at best.

What they say

Jessica Harrington, trainer of Jungle Junction
He's a lovely recruit to chasing and we're looking forward to seeing how he gets on. He's very well.

Joseph O'Brien, trainer of Midnight Run and Top Moon
Midnight Run ran well on his chasing debut where his jumping warmed up as the race progressed and hopefully he will show the benefit of that experience. Hopefully he can put in a better round on the whole. Top Moon has run two good races over fences and hopefully he can show some progress.

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