Fairyhouse Easter Festival gets underway on Sunday. The 3-Day Fairyhouse Easter Festival gets underway on Sunday and with almost €900,000 to be shared out in prizemoney for the 23 races there is understandably plenty of quality about. The first of seven races gets underway at 2.30pm with seven facing the starter for the opening day highlight, the Dan Moore Memorial Chase over 2m1f. Sure to be run at a good clip given the underfoot conditions, Alcapone gets the vote to come out on top at the expense of Knife Edge and Artic Copper. Oliver McKiernan, who has engaged British champion Tony McCoy for Winning Dream in the Powers Gold Label Irish Grand National on Monday, is represented with Star Performance in the 2m6f beginners chase. Rated 117 over the larger obstacles he is taken to open his account at the expense of Saddlers Mark and Lord Edwards Army. The concluding winners bumper promises to be a lively betting heat and the outcome may rest with the Willie Mullins-trained Royal Alphabet, who disappointed somewhat when only 10th behind Liberman in the bumper at the Cheltenham Festival last month.
