Irish racing is usually highly competitive with weak races few and far between. Even so, but this field at Clonmel looks full of deadwood.

Atlantian probably justifies his favourite tag as he is lightly raced with just three maiden hurdles before going handicap chasing. Those two chases didn't go well, but when he returned to hurdling, he ran second at odds of 40/1.

His trainer A J Martin invariably punts his horses, so this must have surprised him too, but this doesn't inspire me with confidence, especially with him returning to soft going, a surface on which he previously ran poorly.

Consequently, this three-mile handicap looks ripe for an upset, and I think Kadys Dirha might throw up a surprise, although it's safe to say she is a moody mare, having pulled up in four of her seven races and almost refusing in one of her early maidens.

Connections applied blinkers and she ran an incredible race to be placed at 200/1 in a two-mile maiden hurdle at today's track in December. She raced wide throughout, losing a huge amount of ground (when there was no ground bias to be wide) and was outpaced dropping from midfield to drop to the rear.
She looked like she would tail off half a mile out (30+ lengths behind), but then stayed on strongly to be a fast-finishing third of fifteen, only going down by four lengths and postmarking a healthy 97.
Her latest two starts have been poor, but I think there are grounds for each-way optimism, as returning to soft ground should help after struggling on heavier going.
The extra distance of this three-mile trip back at Clonmel should help, while her mark of 90 means she only needs to replicate her good run at the track to be involved again here.

I jumped at the early 66/1 price, which was irresistible in this weak-looking race, but even if that price drops, as it inevitably will, she remains worth a point each-way.