Irish trainer sends 33-1 horse on 1,000-mile round trip to Kempton on Saturday

Limerick-based trainer Eric McNamara is more knock for his exploits over the jumps, but he does have the odd flat runner. It has to be hugely interesting that the handler, who is based in Rathkeale down in the south-west of Ireland, will send one horse on a 1,000-mile round trip to Kempton Racecourse today. Let’s take a look at the horse in more detail below.

2.10 Kempton

The horse in question is called Brains and at first glance he is a huge price if he can put his best foot forward. Running in the Unibet London Mile Series Final Handicap, this is a valuable pot and this will be Brains’ third run for the yard since leaving John Butler during the summer.

Brains was very disappointing in a Roscommon handicap when last seen, but he ran well enough on stable debut at Killarney. He does not look particularly well treated as he won a handicap here off 71 in December 2022, but he did go on to win at Chelmsford soon after off a mark of 79, so maybe he isn’t too harshly treated off 82 if he can get his act together.

Looking at the draw, he doesn’t have the ideal pitch out in stall 10 so will probably have to be waited with. Nonetheless, if the pace collapses, and that is likely in this field looking at the pace angles, then he might run home strongly to hit the line hard. This is a big day for the McNamara stable, but he is a mighty handler and does well with what he has. Best of luck if you have a punt.

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