Trigo Stakes Tips & Betting Preview

Race Time: 2.55pm Meeting: Leopardstown Day: Saturday 24th October
Distance: 1m 2f Full Race Name:  Trigo Stakes (Listed)

Amazingly we have a Listed race in Ireland without a single O’Brien runner, giving the numerous other trainers an added chance at some black type for their horses and leaving the race a little less lop-sided than would normally be the case. With the final entries now in we can say quite clearly that at the weights, Dermot Weld holds the best hand thanks to Zannda (5/2), a three-year-old filly who will be ridden again this afternoon by the excellent Pat Smullen. A daughter of Azamour owned by the Aga Khan, she may well have a mind of his own hence the recent applications of blinkers then a visor (and back to blinkers again today), but won nicely enough last time out at Cork staying on well to get up at the death, and as that was a Group Three she is taking a drop in class which ought to only increase her already obvious chances, even if she is a little bit less than straight forward and may need further than this mile and a quarter?

Torcedor (7/2) looks next best on all know form for trainer David Wachman, but was all out to win by a short head over this trip last time out at The Curragh and is another who may be better over a little further than the mile and a quarter. The gelded son of in vogue sire Fastnet Rock has been admirably consistent throughout his brief career with two wins two seconds a third and a fourth from his six starts, and if we have enough runners he looks nailed on each way, though whether he is a big enough price to make that work is yet to be discovered.

Ger Lyons is in decent enough form this season and will be hoping for a big run from Intisari (5/1), yet another lightly raced option with any amount of improvement possible. Unlike the others mentioned this is certainly his trip with two wins and a second in his last three outings, though they have been in lower grades (and two on the all-weather at Dundalk), and this sort of event could well be stretching his limited abilities that bit too far.

Johann Bach (20/1) has to give weight to over half the field but is an interesting one if he can repeat his best form over a mile stepped up in trip, which seems unlikely.  Wins at Galway and the Curragh over the eight furlongs are why he is rated as highly as 91 but even that would be unlikely to see him on the scene at the finish let alone the change in trip, but then again recent winning form can count for a lot so we are a little wary of simply writing him off just yet.

Lastly, we can’t just bypass Sruthan (10/1) who has some very good form to his name if not at this trip. Wins at Dundalk, The Curragh (Twice) and Tipperary saw him rated as highly as 111 at his peak which would probably be enough to win this, though he hasn’t won since April 2014, despite some decent enough placed efforts in better races than today.  On breeding he is a questionable stayer as a son of Arakan, and we suggest he comes here due to limited options more than any other reason, though he is the class act at his best and if they go at a crawl (unlikely), he could pop up at a massive price.