Will Irish Eyes Be Smiling?

One of the most popular special bets at the Festival is the number of Irish trained winners there'll be.

In its current market, Paddy Power surprisingly has 8 or more winners as its 5-2 favourite, even though the challenge from the Emerald Isle looks the weakest it's been for many years.

The only blue riband event in which the Irish are likely to put up a serious challenge is the Champion Hurdle. They have little or no hope of lifting the Gold Cup, Champion Chase or World Hurdle.

To make matters worse, their best novice chaser, Glencove Marina, is out injured and their supposedly number one Bumper prospect, Time Electric, bypasses the Festival and heads straight to Punchestown.

Once you factor in as well the unusual strength in depth of the home contingent in the Supreme Novice Hurdle and Ballymore Properties Hurdle (races in which the Irish have traditionally flourished in recent seasons) it is easy to start painting a relatively bleak picture of their prospects.

Of course, the Irish are bound to still have strong claims in the Festival Bumper and in other events like the Cross Country Chase. In addition, there are sure to be some horses from the powerful yards of Tony Martin, Edward O'Grady and the like who have been laid out all winter for one of the big handicaps.

However, at this stage, less than 8 winners looks a real possibility and, from a punting perspective, the value surely lies with 5 winners (4-1) or 6 winners (also 4-1).