RACING NEWS:ONE MAN hoping Cork passes a 7.30 inspection this morning will be champion jockey Ruby Walsh who could add to his already impressive winning average in Ireland this season.
Walsh boasts an almost 25 per cent strike rate that has taken him to 54 winners already this term, well clear of nearest rival Davy Russell, and on his way to an eighth championship.
The full-strength of Willie Mullins’s novice team is starting to appear and Walsh teams up with an interesting runner in Rhyl Accord in the second maiden hurdle of the day.
The Down Royal winner ran into Sweeps Hill in a bumper at Leopardstown last Christmas and hasn’t been seen since but Mullins has a good opinion of Rhyl Accord who can justify it first time over flights.
Doctor Deejay was a disappointing favourite on his last start in the North but is probably worth another shout in the three-year-old hurdle while Luska Lad should be very hard to beat in the conditions hurdle.
Walsh is on Banna Man in the first handicap hurdle but this one looks to have a tough task against Cool Quest who is 11lb higher in the ratings for a wide-margin victory at Fairyhouse earlier in the month.
Nina Carberry’s mount Special Token will take some beating in the mares bumper.
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