‘Progressed at a rapid rate’ - Irish raiders arrive in numbers across Britain on Saturday There are five meetings taking place across Britain on Saturday and Irish trainers are sending five runners across. Emmet Mullins runs two in Kempton’s valuable Ladbrokes Trophy and Stuart Crawford is launching a double raid at Newcastle. We’ve assessed the chances of all five Irish raiders and Robson De Aguiar’s runner in the Listed Hever Sprint Stakes at Lingfield is arguably the most interesting of the bunch. Valiant Force - Lingfield 1.25 @ 5/2 This horse won the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot as a two-year-old, pulling off a major shock in the process and obliging at odds of 150/1. He’s perhaps not always the most consistent, but his record on the all-weather is particularly encouraging. The son of Malibu Moon is adaptable with regards to trip and he won impressively at Dundalk last time out. Winning at this level shouldn’t be beyond him. Ballyedward - Newcastle 2.10 @ SP Crawford is a regular raider in Scotland and the north of England and the first of his two runners at Newcastle is the very lightly raced Ballyedward. He failed to win in three point-to-point starts but came pretty close when second at Loughanmore in April 2025. It’s worth bearing in mind that the six-year-old has struggled somewhat in six starts under rules but he remains lightly raced and the best is surely yet to come. Rising Dust - Kempton 3.35 @ 12/1 Rising Dust has progressed at a rapid rate this season and Mullins’ eight-year-old won back-to-back starts over hurdles in the Autumn, scoring with plenty in hand at Listowel in September and showing a good attitude to follow up off a 12lb higher mark at Punchestown. The return to fences has encouraged even more improvement and he completed a hat-trick when scoring by just shy of a length at Thurles last month. Sean Bowen has been booked for the ride and he’s definitely one to keep an eye on. Chance Another One - Kempton 3.35 @ 10/1 Donagh Meyler heads over to ride Chance Another One and he would have a solid chance on the evidence of his course and distance success in November. The runner-up boosted the form by winning next time and a return to that form would make him a contender. Dropping back in trip for his last couple of starts, clearly he’s better over three miles and we could see a much improved performance this time around. O’Toole - Newcastle 3.58 @ SP O’Toole clearly isn’t the easiest to train, as the 10-year-old remains very lightly raced for his age. He showed immediate potential when bolting up in a Fairyhouse bumper on his rules debut but injuries have taken their toll since. Winning nicely on his first start over fences over course and distance back in January 2023, Crawford’s gelding has still only had four chase starts, but needs to show a lot more than he did at Haydock last time out.
