Racing: Why Father Sean's forecasts could be the answer to your prayers
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Your support makes all the difference.Father Sean Breen is a 66-year-old Irish priest and racing enthusiast. He has two racecourses in his parish of Eadestown in County Kildare, Naas and Punchestown. "So there is a God," he exclaims. A Cheltenham devotee – he has been visiting since 1964 – he will set off tomorrow on his annual pilgrimage. He is a member of the Heavenly Syndicate who own a Flat horse called One Won One – it has won 12 races and €170,000. Here he provides readers with a guide to his fancies among the Irish raiders.
Cheltenham's a unique racetrack, with its undulations and the hill, and the incredible atmosphere. It's the Olympics of National Hunt racing. I'm looking forward to it more than ever this year, because the Irish have got some really good chances.
I'm not a big gambler. I can go to a race meeting and enjoy it without having a bet. I'm not anti-gambling or anti-drinking, but not to excess. However, if I was having a decent wager it would be on Eddie O'Grady's Pizarro in the Royal & SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle on Wednesday. The horse ran a superb race last year in the Bumper, so we know he likes the course. I also like Eddie's horse Back in Front in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle on Tuesday.
If the going turns soft, the mare who won that race last year, Like-A-Butterfly, has a great chance at a decent price in the Champion Hurdle, with Charlie Swan riding her. I tipped her last year, and she just won. But it will be hard to beat Jonjo O'Neill's pair of Rhinestone Cowboy and Intersky Falcon.
Michael Hourigan's a brave man to enter Beef Or Salmon in the Gold Cup, but the horse has done everything he's been asked to do and you can't knock him. He's a novice, of course, and that would be against him, but Michael did the same with Dorans Pride in 1997, and he might have won if he'd not made a mistake. I didn't think Best Mate was that impressive in the King George and tradition is against him winning the Gold Cup back-to-back.
The Irish have a great record in the Bumper on Wednesday, and I go for Willie Mullins' Royal Alphabet. I saw him win at Galway, a similar course. Willie's horses have been under a bit of a cloud, but there's a lot of talk for that horse.
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