Killarney’s July festival kicks off with a mixed card so Bleeding Hearts could be an appropriate opening winner in the juvenile contest for champion jumps owner Michael O’Leary and his Gigginstown Stud team.
This home-bred's name suggests the Ryanair boss can at least briefly forget his famous indifference to the flat game and there was plenty to like about Bleeding Hearts' Fairyhouse debut where he looked very green but still ran on well to be fourth to Simple Love.
He holds the Aga Khan's Tarabiyn on that, although the latter ran wide into the straight, and with winners from the O'Brien and Harrington stable involved, plus a runner for Tommy Stack, who is always to be reckoned with in the Kingdom, Bleeding Hearts could represent a touch of value here.
The day one feature is the €23,500 Racing Post Handicap Chase which sees an English raider in Bob Buckler's Mister Matt who appears exposed in ratings terms. The same can also be said for topweight Tranquil Sea.
Prince Of Fire proved disappointing in seven starts over fences, winning just once. However, it is over 18 months since he ran over them, and since then he has won three times at Dundalk, and once over hurdles. You have to ignore a terrible run at Bellewstown recently but before that Prince Of Fire ran okay in a flat race at Limerick and crucially he loves to hear his feet rattle.
