Listowel Day 5: Key Jockey, Owner and Trainer To Watch The Harvest Festival continues at Listowel on Thursday and the jumpers take centre stage. There are seven races on the card and the main event is the Listed Lartigue Hurdle, which has a substantial prize fund of €60,000 on offer. Listowel’s feature race looks set to be ferociously competitive and there’s even a Cheltenham Festival winner amongst the field. There’s also a maiden hurdle, beginners chase and a bumper on the supporting card that could be informative. We’ve picked out an owner, trainer and jockey to follow across the card. JP McManus has a couple of intriguing runners in the Lartigue Hurdle and is worth keeping an eye on. Jack Kennedy has two very good chances as well, whilst Charles Byrnes could be dangerous. Check out the best Listowel Harvest Festival betting offers Owner — JP McManus It’s hard to avoid Ireland’s most prolific owner and JP McManus is represented by two runners in the Lartigue Hurdle at Listowel. Both appear to have substantial chances and one of them is Cheltenham Festival winner Puturhandstogether. Trained by Joseph O’Brien, Puturhandstogether was an impressive winner of the Hallgarten And Novum Wines Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, pulling six-lengths clear of the runner-up. He followed that up with a solid third in a Grade 1 at Aintree and Peter Smithers takes 7lb off now. Last Kingdom is McManus’ other runner in the race and he got off the mark at Fairyhouse in April before following that up with a solid second in a decent race at Killarney. A return to that form would give the lightly raced four-year-old every chance of coming out on top. Trainer — Charles Byrnes Charles Byrnes has runners across three races at Listowel, two of which will be competing in his own colours. As usual the market will tell us plenty about their chances but hurdling debutante Run For Mahler is of interest, having won a Down Royal bumper last time out. From The Ashes is the most interesting of his two runners in the 4.35 and his last success came over this very trip, albeit over fences. He is winless in 11 starts over hurdles but it’s not too late to change that. Four-year-old filly Never Late makes her debut in the concluding bumper and there’s plenty to like about her pedigree. It’s hard to know what to expect from her here but it wouldn’t be a surprise if she ends up running well. Jockey — Jack Kennedy Everyone in the racing world is hoping Jack Kennedy gets a clear run and is free of injury this season. If all goes to plan, he’ll surely be competing with Paul Townend for the jockeys’ title. He has two chances of adding to his tally on Thursday and both are of interest. Woodland Adventure is unbeaten in three bumper starts and she defied a double penalty to score by two lengths at Worcester in July. There should be more to come now going over hurdles and she’s a likely contender here. Beaufort Scale is a two-time winner over hurdles and he showed signs of progress over fences when finishing second at Kilbeggan last time out. More will be needed but he’s in good hands and further improvement can’t be ruled out.
