'Shaped with plenty of promise' - Saturday’s Irish Lucky 15 tips Navan stages a competitive eight-race card on Saturday, a total of 117 horses declared, including a maximum field of 26 in the two maiden hurdle races. There’s quality, not just quantity, however, with a Grade 2 novice hurdle accompanied by a pair of Listed events. We’ve run the rule over the card and have provided our four best bests for the meeting. Gordon Elliott holds a really strong hand in this Grade 2 feature, the County Meath-based handler responsible for three of the top four in the betting. Jockey booking suggests that recent Clonmel winner Kavanis is the first string, but his form is some way below that of his two stablemates, Port Authority and Classical Creek and early indications in the betting markets seem to support that impression. Indeed, Classical Creek ran to a Racing Post Rating of 135 when landing a 22-runner maiden his hurdling debut over course-and-distance last month and that puts him upwards of 8lb clear of his stable’s other runners and 6lb ahead of the Willie Mullins-trained Doctor Steinberg. 14:17 Navan - Tullyhill @ SP With 9lb separating eight of the nine runners, this is every bit as competitive for a handicap of this nature. It’s certainly not a race to get too heavily involved in, but Mullins’ Tullyhill shaped with plenty of promise on his seasonal return at Wexford and should be bang there if improving at all on that. The seven-year-old, who was placed in Grade 1 company in a bumper early in his career, is yet to win in five starts over fences, but he’s run some solid races, finishing second on three of his five outings in this sphere. He failed to complete on his final two outings of last season, but October’s return was very definitely a step back in the right direction and suggests his current mark of 144 isn’t beyond him. 14:52 Navan - Slade Steel @ SP Henry De Bromhead’s Slade Steel is yet to reach the heights over fences he did over hurdles, but he’s running to a solid level in defeat and might just prove a bit too streetwise for his rivals in a fascinating beginners’ chase. The seven-year-old’s finest hour came when winning the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March last year, the gelding coming home strongly up the hill to beat Mystical Power, who went on to win at Aintree the following month before gaining his revenge on the selection at the Punchestown Festival subsequently. He’s been around a stone below that level in his two chase outings so far, but it’s still early days for him at this discipline and he’s taken to recoup the losses of those odds-on defeats, albeit fitness on this seasonal return has to be taken on trust. 15:27 Navan - With Nolimit @ SP Gordon Elliott has farmed the concluding bumper on this card since 2017, winning all bar one of the runnings during that time, including the last three. The handler is doubly represented on this occasion, though preference is readily given to With Nolimit, who made all when winning a point at Liscaroll in March, prior to fetching £250,000 at the sales the next month. He’s to be ridden by 5lb claimer Josh Williamson, who has gleaned plenty of experience in bumpers over the last couple of years and has partnered 10 winners for Elliott already this campaign.
