Punt Drunk: Luck of the Irish comes through on St Paddy’s Day
Punt Drunk Daily – March 18, 2021
Hopefully the hangover from St Paddy’s Day celebrations are not too savage, because we need to buckle up and kick on with another big day on the punt.
The Albury Cup Carnival kicks off today, as well as the 2021 AFL season, while we are just over 24 hours out from the William Reid Stakes and 48 hours from Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill.
We can hardly contain our excitement, but remember: it is a marathon, not a sprint.
Omen bet of the day salutes
Irish Angel wins the last on #StPatricksDay for @mcacajamez and @cwallerracing! @LizzieJelfs found her from the yard at a nice price! pic.twitter.com/34CQFWGHWM
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) March 17, 2021
It is almost 6pm on St Patrick’s Day and a horse by the name of Irish Angel is set to jump at Randwick-Kensington. It was a match made in heaven, and didn’t the punters come for the Chris Waller-trained mare. Having only one once before in her 16-start career, she was backed from $21 into $9 in the last on Wednesday and prevailed in a driving finish to beat the two market fancies in the race. Lizzie Jelfs had her as the pick of the yard, and punters in pubs around the country would have been losing their shit over the last 200m. The #PuntDrunk team must confess to being slightly annoyed that we weren’t on her.
Reloaded disappoints at Doomben
A boilover in Race 5 at @BrisRacingClub Doomben with Deep Sceiva winning at a juicy price for Rob Heathcote! Favourite Reloaded struggled on the heavy track. pic.twitter.com/wlxcqTsa8B
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) March 17, 2021
Having been sent around as a $1.35 favourite in a six-horse field at Doomben yesterday, it looked to be Reloaded’s race to lose for trainer Chris Waller. Having not won in close to two years after competing in plenty of Group races in that time, he was clearly the horse to beat in the Class 1 field yesterday. Race caller David Fowler must have put a fair chunk of change on Reloaded, as he made a rather blunt statement when he said, “Note to self: never, ever, ever tip that horse again.” That is a fair old whack for a Wednesday meeting at Doomben, but we back you here 100%, David.
Group 1 match race in Ranvet Stakes?
? Addeybb ?
The Irish 6yo wins the G1 Ranvet ahead of Verry Elleegant.@TomMarquand | @WilliamHaggas pic.twitter.com/bwjsHFC26G
— 7HorseRacing ? (@7horseracing) March 21, 2020
When fields were released for this weekend’s races, plenty of eyes went to the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes to see who would be taking on the quinella from last year’s renewal. As it turns out, a whopping three rivals – Master Of Wine, Nettoyer and Prince Fawaz – will run against Addeybb and Verry Elleegant at Rosehill Gardens this Saturday. It is a glorified match race with $700,000 on the line, and if we were to pick one, we would go with the local Verry Elleegant to turn the tables on the Irish galloper.
Thursday racing tips – March 18, 2021
Punt Drunk’s best bet of the day
Geoff Duryea will send around his last-start Moonee Valley runner-up in the other feature of the day, the Barlens City Handicap over 1175m, and she should be hard to beat. Magnavale ran second at Flemington two starts ago, beaten just over a length when carrying 62kg, before being narrowly defeated by Cielo D’oro at The Valley. She drops 2kg off that run and finds an easier level of racing which should see her lead from barrier to box. Drawn in gate eight under Matthew Cahill, the six-year-old mare will find the front and be too slick.
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Welcome to Punt Drunk! Our new daily column covering all the latest horse racing and punting controversies, dramas and headline news. Have a story or gripe or issue that just grinds your gears? Just hit us up in the comments or contact us page and our jaded, punt hardened Punt Drunk staff will give it the Punt Drunk treatment it deserves. Don’t expect pleasantries or typical racing media fanboy gloss from Punt Drunk – we’re on the punt and we don’t have time to bullshit; the next is about to jump…
