Sole Irish raider heads to Wetherby on Wednesday Britain is used to regular raids from Irish trainers, but there’s just the one runner heading over on Wednesday and the horse in question is trained by John McConnell. Here we assess the chances of McConnell’s six-year-old in the Racing TV 100% Profits Returned To Racing Novices' Hurdle at Wetherby and consider the major threats. Ira Hayes - Wetherby 2.15 @ SP John McConnell regularly sends runners over to northern England and Scottish tracks and his sole representative at Wetherby on Wednesday is the very promising six-year-old Ira Hayes. There’s lots to like about this horse’s profile and he’s one of the leading contenders here. Beginning his career with an easy success in a point-to-point at Corbridge for Jack Teal, he was up with the pace for most of the race and stayed on well to pull nicely clear, scoring by a margin of 11 lengths. McConnell then purchased the gelding for £56,000, which could prove to be a shrewd bit of business. Ira Hayes looked a little lost when the pace quickened on his rules debut in a bumper at Listowel and that proved to be a good learning experience, despite finishing a well beaten sixth of 12. He showed significant improvement at Wexford next time and he put six lengths between him and the runner-up, with the rest of the field well beaten in behind. It would be hard not to be impressed by that performance and it was a sign of things to come. McConnell’s gelding then went up to 2m4f on his first start over hurdles at Carlisle last time out and the result never looked in doubt. Far from being the finished article, his jumping was like a novice at times and there’s clearly room for improvement in that department. What stood out most is the fact that he clearly possesses a sizable engine and he looks like a future chaser in the making, but one would imagine that he’s capable of winning more races over hurdles in the meantime. Olly Murphy’s 128-rated Wade Out looks like the biggest danger, having been dropped in grade after disappointing in a Grade 2 at Cheltenham when last seen. That being said, he carries a double penalty and would need to put in a fine performance to beat Ira Hayes. Rule Me In won a maiden at Southwell last time, but would need to find a new level to feature here. Get €50 in FREE bets with the Betfred sign up offer:
