Westover is a solid favourite for the Irish Derby, bet365’s Pat Cooney told Racing Weekly, but his biggest competition may depend on who Aidan O’Brien sends into battle.
Cooney’s comments came in the latest episode of Racing Weekly, a show fronted by Rishi Persad which is quickly becoming a major part of every racing fan’s weekly routine.
Persad put it to Cooney that this week’s Group 1 Irish Derby at The Curragh on Saturday is all about the form of Westover, to which the bet365 man replied: “We all pencilled him in as an unlucky loser in the Epsom Derby (won by Desert Crown) three weeks ago, and he's got every chance to show what he's made of this time around. He's a red hot favourite for the race.
“It is, however, unusual not to find an Aidan O'Brien (trained 14 winners of the Irish Derby) horse heading the market, and we know he's going to be solid enough with whoever they run - probably they'll run three or four runners.
“But the form certainly points to Westover (7/4 favourite) for Ralph Beckett. Stone Age (8/1 best price) might be the most realistic chance for O’Brien; he wasn't disgraced in the Epsom Derby (finished 6th) and has home advantage this weekend.”
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Cooney later agreed with Persad that predicting which horses the O’Brien team send into battle with Westover is the hardest part of the ante-post puzzle for punters before final declarations are made on Thursday. For example, he suggested that Piz Badile (10/1) – trained by Aidan’s son Donnacha – would have held strong market claims were it not for a poor showing at Epsom.
“Piz Badile (with Frankie Dettori on board) didn't like Epsom at all. If he hadn't have turned up that day then you’d say he's got some sort of a formbook chance as well. The domestic challenge will be plentiful but maybe without the quality of Westover. He looks pretty solid to me.”
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