It’s a rather quiet Sunday overall but there’s a couple of very good races at Naas and the feature Grade 3 Barberstown Castle Chase will be well worth watching as it will give us some valuable clues ahead of the jumps season proper. Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Marine Nationale is set to go off a very short price, but is it justified? Check out our free horse racing tips for the day on the website!
Barry Connell’s Marine Nationale is set to go off odds-on for this contest on his return to action but he offers no value at all and he can go and win at that price. Unbeaten in bumpers and hurdles, the dual Grade 1 winner impressed on his chasing debut at Leopardstown last season, but he flopped in the Irish Arkle at the same venue when last seen and he has had plenty of issues since.
One thing is for sure, Connell never shies away from bigging this horse up and he always speaks very highly of him, but he has quite a bit to prove on his return and there’s a chance he isn’t the horse he used to be. With that in mind, I’m having a bet on Willie Mullins’ Hercule Du Seuil, who will make it a proper test on the front end.
He won won five races on the bounce in first half of last season and was far from disgraced in a pair of Grade 1s later in the season. Already a winner eight times, this lad knows where the winning post is and if there’s any chinks in the favourites’ armour, he will expose them.
If you back any of our selections you can watch them live on the free Racing Post app or racingpost.com. Simply log in to one of your bookmaker accounts and click ‘Watch live’ on the racecards.