Fairyhouse Lucky 15 - Saturday 19th April Fairyhouse’s three-day Easter Festival kicks off on Saturday and we have a competitive-looking seven-race card to look forward to. The €100,000 RYBO Handicap Hurdle is the main event and there’s plenty to look forward to. We’ve picked out our four strongest selections across the card that can be combined to form a juicy Lucky 15, including a British raider in the big race of the day. Lucky 15 for Fairyhouse, Saturday April 19 3.20 - Majestic Force 4.30 - Ayiko 5.05 - Joyeuse 5.40 - Hello Jean Fairyhouse Easter Festival Betting Offer If you have already signed up to BoyleSports, check out more of the best betting sites and casino bonuses 3.20 Fairyhouse - 2m5f BoyleSports Mares Handicap Chase (Listed) (5yo+) - Majestic Force Majestic Force bolted up in an Irish point at Lingstown in December 2023 and subsequently switched hands for £120,000 at the sales.The daughter of Workforce looked smart when winning a maiden hurdle over 2m4f comfortably on debut for this yard. Connections then decided to step her up in grade for the Grade 2 Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival and she ran well enough back in fifth, but the 2m1f trip was nowhere near long enough for her. She got off the mark over fences in a beginners chase at Wexford last time out and a mark of 126 looks lenient on handicap debut. We haven’t seen the best of this very lightly-raced mare as of yet and she should be capable of winning races at this level. 4.30 Fairyhouse - 2m7½f Irish Stallion Farms EBF Novice Handicap Hurdle Series Final (Listed) (5yo+) - Ayiko Ayiko beat a useful horse Olly Murphy horse by five lengths in a bumper at Ayr back in 2023 and he’s been a much improved performer so far this season. He appreciated the step up to 2m7f here in December and was runner-up behind a smart Willie Mullins-trained winner. Stuart Crawford’s six-year-old went one better when upped to 3m½f on soft ground at Ayr in January and a handicap mark of 125 doesn’t look ridiculous by any stretch of the imagination. Handicaps are likely to facilitate further improvement and his profile suggests we can expect him to step forward again. 5.05 Fairyhouse - 2m RYBO Handicap Hurdle (Listed) (4yo+) - Joyeuse Nicky Henderson doesn’t send runners over to Ireland just for a day out and the classy mare Joyeuse could be one to watch in the €100,000 feature race. She was thrown into a Grade 1 at Cheltenham last time out and was far from disgraced in sixth. Some smart mares finished in front of her that day and she lost nothing in defeat. Fading on the run-in, that effort indicates that the return to two miles will suit. A better jump at the last would also have helped and she should find life easier in handicap company. Bolting up in the William Hill Hurdle at Newbury before that, she made a competitive race look anything but. A similar performance here would surely make her hard to beat and the useful Aidan Kelly takes 5lb off. 5.40 Fairyhouse - 2m4f Hire2K Irish EBF Mares INH Flat Race (5yo+) - Hello Jean No fewer than 20 runners have been declared for this mares’ bumper and it’s Willie Mullins’ runner Hello Jean that makes the most appeal. Champion Bumper-winning jockey Jody Townend takes the ride and she looks capable of taking this. Mullins has a formidable strike-rate of 28 percent in Irish bumpers this season, with 26 winners from 94 runners, and Hello Jean’s debut performance suggests she can add to that tally sooner or later. The daughter of Flemensfirth kept on nicely to finish third in a Leopardstown bumper and is entitled to improve for the run, as she would have learnt plenty from the experience.
