Saturday's Lucky 15 at Listowel

Saturday sees the conclusion of the Listowel Harvest Festival and a competitive seven-race jumps card bringing the curtain down on what has been an excellent week’s action from the County Kerry track.

Our expert, Marcus Buckland, has picked out his best bets of the meeting, including a progressive young hurdler of Ross O’Sullivan.

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Saturday’s Lucky15 tips

14:10 Listowel - Ripsnorter

There’s not a massive amount of previous form to go on in the opening 2m maiden hurdle, but Ripsnorter ran to an impressive Racing Post Rating of 114 when winning a Roscommon bumper last month and a translation of that form to hurdles will surely make him hard to beat.

The four-year-old gelding has left Andrew Slattery since that victory, sold for an undisclosed fee and moved to County Laois-based handler W.J Langley. Given his new trainer’s poor strike-rate over the last five years, it’s quite possible the selection will go off at bigger odds than his form suggests.

However, Danny Mullins is a positive booking for the son of Australia and he’s preferred to Gordon Elliott’s Blue Water and Dermot Weld’s Brosna Town the latter having shaped with a bit more promise than the bare result suggests on his hurdles debut.

14:45 Listowel - Strong Link

The Allman Contracts Novice Hurdle looks a good race, despite the relatively small field, Ross O’Sullivan’s Strong Link hard to oppose, having won his two hurdling starts to date and clear on ratings.

The five-year-old was the best of these in bumpers (Racing Post Rating of 118) and has done nothing but improve since being switched to hurdles, running to a figure of 124 when landing a Tipperary maiden in July and 132 when defeating the reopposing Cameletto Vega at Galway (Carrigg Island well behind in fifth).

He’s got a bit more on his plate with Willie Mullins representative on these terms, but he’s open to plenty more improvement and is the stronger stayer of that pair.

15:20 Listowel - Millstream Lady

Eric McNamara’s Millstream Lady is up 5lb for last month’s 2m7f Killarney success, but 2lb of that is offset by Callum Hogan’s claim and she’s entitled to strip fitter for that outing, which was her first since April.

The seven-year-old has an impressive strike-rate over hurdles, winning four of her 17 starts and finishing second on another four occasions.

She’s back to 2m4f today, but shouldn’t be inconvenienced, having won over this course-and-distance at this festival in 2023 and been in front jumping the second-last at Killarney.

16:30 Listowel - Antrim Coast

It’s been a frustrating campaign so far for Antrim Coast, the seven-year-old having found one too good on his three outings for Gavin Cromwell.

However, he’s run right up to his mark on each occasion and will surely give a good account in a competitive handicap chase on his debut for Henry De Bromhead.

He got very warm in the preliminaries at Kilbeggan in a beginners’ chase last month, but still ran his race, suggesting he’s more than capable of defying his current mark of 124 on his return to handicap company.

A son of Presenting, drying ground is very much in his favour.