Donoghue 'Quickly Becoming a Trainer to Watch' - Hot trainers to follow this week Storm Bram has caused havoc across both Britain and Ireland this week, with Monday’s Punchestown fixture being abandoned. That meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday and there’s an abundance of other action to look forward to, across both codes. Finding winners is never an easy task and trainer form is often a useful indicator, which makes it well worth considering. Several Irish trainers are in good form at the moment so we’ve selected a few with impressive recent strike-rates to watch this week. Ian Donoghue Ian Donoghue has made a name for himself this season and is quickly becoming a trainer to watch. His recent form has been particularly strong and he’s operating at a strike-rate of 31 per cent in the last fortnight, with four winners from his 13 runners. Donoghue launched a very successful raid at Haydock last week and he sent over three runners, two of which won and the other finished second. Colin Keane is booked to ride Colugo for him at Dundalk on Wednesday and she looks capable of winning sooner or later. It’s interesting that Shannon Royale is entered in the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham on Friday and that sort of test could suit the lightly raced seven-year-old. He came with a £300,000 price tag and Robcour will be keen to recoup some of that. Emmet Mullins Emmet Mullins is a shrewd operator and you should always take note when the money starts to come for one of his runners. He has only had seven runners in the last fortnight and three of those won, giving him a very healthy strike-rate of 43 per cent. The most notable of those successes was Good Girl Kathleen’s eight-and-a-half-length victory in the Grade 3 Joe Buckley Construction Stayers Novice Hurdle at Cork over the weekend. She saw the trip out very well and looks like one to watch going forward. You would imagine he’ll be represented at Fairyhouse and Navan over the weekend and he’s got a couple of interesting entries earlier in the week. Chance Another One could run at Punchestown on Thursday, whilst he may send J’Arrive De L’Est over to Cheltenham on Friday. Gordon Elliott Gordon Elliott can’t stay out of the winners’ enclosure at the moment and the County Meath-based trainer is closing in on 20 winners in the last two weeks. A total of 19 winners is very impressive and a strike-rate of 26 per cent is more than healthy. Elliott landed a four-timer at Cork on Sunday, which included Found A Fifty’s defeat of Majborough in the Hilly Way Chase. Kala Conti was perhaps the star of the show though and she won a Grade 2 novice chase for mares by 16 lengths. It’s going to be another busy week for the team and he has two good chances at Hexham on Wednesday. He has plenty of runners entered at Punchestown on Thursday and may well send a couple of runners over to Cheltenham this weekend. Honourable mention William Delahunty’s only runner in the last couple of weeks was a winner and he’s set to run Not Even Maybe in the 4.15 at Dundalk on Wednesday. She will be making her all-weather debut and could be worth keeping an eye on.
