Sunday afternoon sees Leopardstown keep the weekend racing bandwagon going as the excellent Dublin Racing Festival rolls into its second and concluding day. With every race on the card rated at Grade 3 level or above, including four Grade 1 contests, this Foxrock feast is well worth getting stuck into.
Here, we pick out our four best each-way bets on the card as we aim to top up the funds in the lead-up to the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.
1:10 Ladbrokes Novice Chase (Grade 1), 2m5½f
There are a few short prices on the Day 2 card, including in this €150,000 event for the novice chasers. The Willie Mullins-trained Ballyburn is the headline act at 5/6 with bet365. It’s hard to argue with that assessment, but he does arrive on the back of his first defeat in over a year at Kempton. Chances are that it was simply the 2m trip and brilliance of Sir Gino which beat him that day, but his presence at the head of affairs creates a little each-way value further down the betting list.
Ballyburn’s stablemate Impaire Et Passe takes up this engagement ahead of a tilt at the Scilly Isles Novices Chase and arrives seeking a hattrick. Thoroughly proven in Grade 1 company, he should go well but is priced about right at 10/3.
The horse who looks a couple of points too big in the market is the Gordon Elliott-trained Better Days Ahead. Steadily progressive over hurdles, he took his trainer to the Cheltenham Festival winner's enclosure when claiming the Martin Pip Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle in good style last season. The early evidence suggests he may be at least as good over fences. Kicking off with a 4l beating of Supreme Novices’ Hurdle champ Slade Steel, we went down by only a rapidly diminishing head in the Grade 1 Long Distance Novice Chase at this track in December. He will probably need Ballyburn to underperform to win, but stranger things have happened, and he looks solid value to hit the frame.
Recommended Bet: Better Days Ahead each way @ 10/1 with bet365
1:40 Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle (Grade 1), 2m
Nowhere at the meeting has the dominance of Willie Mullins been more evident than in this contest, with the Closutton colossus claiming nine of the past ten editions. Responsible for six of the final ten-runner field, it would take a brave man to bet against him adding to his tally in 2025.
The unbeaten Kopek Des Bordes brings the most eye-catching profile to the race and is hard to fault following his win at his track in December. However, a price of 11/10 fails to meet the each-way remit. It is also worth noting that Mullins doesn’t always win this with his most fancied contender, with three of those winners in the last decade returning a double-figure SP.
Of Mullins' other contenders, the one we keep coming back to is the Kapgarde gelding Karniquet. Second in two starts in France, he made quite an impression on his yard debut at Tramore when running right away with his maiden hurdle. Downmexicoway finished 11 lengths adrift that day but scored by 10l on his next outing, lending substance to the form. The fact that Karniquet is as big as 50/1 here is down to a 49l fifth when sent off at 11/2 for the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle at this track in December. However, he made a juddering error at the second that day, with his rider doing remarkably well to even stay in the saddle. If we draw a line through that, he shouldn't be anywhere near so big in the market.
Recommended Bet: Karniquet each way @ 50/1 with bet365
2:10 Ladbrokes Dublin Chase (Grade 1), 2m1f
Gaelic Warrior is a horse we have a lot of time for. Nevertheless, we need little encouragement to take him on when we see odds on quotes at this track. Whilst the Rich Ricci runner has won around here, that came in a handicap back in 2023. In two Grade 1 contests, he has run with a screw loose before unseating at this meeting in 2024 and been swatted aside by 28/1 chance Solness last time out.
Marine Nationale is the one the market rates as the most likely to trouble the jolly. However, he has yet to return to the form of his 2023 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle success and is around a third of the price of the horse who thrashed him at Naas in November. Step forward, 2021 Triumph Hurdle hero Quilixios.
Hailing from the yard of Henry De Bromhead, this eight-year-old followed up that Naas success with a runners-up finish behind odds-on Queen Mother Champion Chase favourite Jonbon in the Tingle Creek Chase. Pricing him up at 16/1 on the back of a defeat to just about the best in the business looks excessive, particularly as Quilixios’s only previous outing at this track saw him claim the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle by 5½l.
Recommended Bet: Quilixios @ 16/1 with bet365
2:55 Goffs Irish Arkle Novice Chase (Grade 1), 2m1f
The money for the Gavin Cromwell-trained Backtonormal may prove ominous in this staying handicap affair. However, taking 5/1 about a horse who has been beaten by a combined 70½l in his three outings this season isn’t for us.
James Du Berlais looks dangerous from the top of the weights, but at almost double his price, the one to be on is the Gordon Elliott-trained Search For Glory. In three outings this season, he has thumped the highly regarded Sa Majeste by 8l, failed by a short head to reel in 2024 Albert Bartlett champ Stellar Story, and finished 4½l behind Grade 1 star Impaire Et Passe over an inadequate trip at Limerick. A repeat of any of those efforts should see him involved in the finish.
Recommended Bet: Search For Glory each way @ 9/1 with bet365
Paul Harrison
Falling in love with racing at a young age, Paul’s passion for sports and betting took him to Salford University, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics with Gambling Studies. Having spent ten years in the employment of a leading bookmaker, Paul opted to go it alone and pursue his dream job as a freelance writer.
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