Ireland’s National Hunt season is still going strong and before Punchestown, we have Fairyhouse’s Easter Festival to look forward to. The main event is the €500,000 Irish Grand National, which takes place on Easter Monday, and Liam Bramall has had an ante-post look at the race.
Gavin Cromwell has had an outstanding season so far and it could get even better if this 16/1 shot was to win the Irish National. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.
Malina Girl represents the Gavin Cromwell yard and the trainer is expected to work his magic once again. Cromwell’s season has been nothing short of remarkable and it was crowned by Inothewayurthinkin’s victory in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham. There could be more to come however as Malina Girl has an excellent profile for this race.
We know she stays well, having won a marathon race at Cheltenham in 2023, so the trip should be fine on that evidence. She was a 10-length winner over an extended 3m3f that day and you would imagine two extra furlongs won’t be an issue.
Third at the Cheltenham Festival when last seen, she had no chance with the winner but stayed on well and did all her best work late on. There aren’t many negatives attached to this horse and her relatively consistent record certainly bodes well, though her runs in the Classic Chase and Scottish Grand National could have been better.
Obviously there’s a chance that she’s vulnerable to some unexposed chasers but Cromwell knows what he’s doing in staying handicap chases and his mare is well treated enough to run a big race.
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