3:20 Fairyhouse Tips

This looks a competitive race, but it might be worth siding with this horse, who clearly handles testing ground, is proven over 3+ miles, and is down to a good mark. Should go well.

Denise Marie O'Shea's 11 year old Gelding BALDURS GATE is my only pick of the day. This Son of STOWAWAY has a 100% place strike rate here @Fairyhouse over this trip hitting the frame twice from two attempts off a mark of 109 & has. 43.75% place strike rate in this sphere with all his better efforts coming off juice filled turf. This old boy runs here off a mark of 102 with the return to this stamina slog looking to be a better fit. Jockey Sean Flanagan returns to the saddle & was in the cockpit when placing here. This charge does have a 13 length win (@Punchestown 25f Soft) on his resume & is starting to creep down the handicap. Good luck.

He is a skilled and valuable handicap chaser, especially within the Irish racing circuit, boasting 2 victories from 25 races, along with several placed finishes. His jumping technique is solid. If he can repeat the impressive form he showed when finishing 4th here in October at a 9 lb higher weight, he stands a chance of creating a stir with an each-way bet at generous 16/1 odds.

Duffy's Getaway is a 9-year-old gelding trained by P. J. Rothwell and ridden by Tiernan Power Roche. He runs off a mark of 88. He's hardly prolific, being 1/27 in wins, with that win coming at Punchestown over 3m in a handicap hurdle on heavy ground off a mark of 89 way back in December 2023 by an impressive 10 lengths (disqualified in the previous race off 80 due to a banned substance). He ran consistently well afterwards and rose from a mark of 80 to 106, within the handicapper's grasp, and has as a result remained winless in 13 starts since. However, he runs today off 85 in a handicap chase, some 4 lb below his last winning hurdle mark, and today's heavy ground and today's 3m 2f trip off just 10 st 1 lb could suit him, particularly for a yard who have recently picked up 12-1 and 33-1 winners.