Lucky 15 Tips: Blake is the one to beat at Naas

The Cheltenham Festival is creeping ever closer and Sunday's racing should warm us up nicely as there are three meetings taking place across Britain and Ireland, all of which are National Hunt fixtures.

Naas' Leinster National card is the strongest of the day and they also have a fascinating Grade 3 novice hurdle, while the British action comes from Warwick and Carlisle.

Our expert has selected four tips from across the cards to consider combining into a Lucky 15 on Sunday. Amongst them is a Noel Meade-trained runner in the Kingsfurze Novice Hurdle who brings a very strong level of form to the table and could be hard to beat.

Horse Racing odds

14:30 Naas - Blake @ 9/4

Noel Meade runs the Royal Bond runner-up BLAKE here and the five-year-old looks more than good enough to win this. He got off the mark in a Down Royal maiden earlier on in the season and that form has been boosted a couple of times since.

That aforementioned Royal Bond run was probably the best piece of form on offer here and Blake was only a head behind winner Koktail Bruit that day.

A respectable fifth in a Grade 1 at the Dublin Racing Festival after that, he was well ahead of Davy Crockett and should confirm the form. A return to winning ways is anticipated and this useful dual-purpose performer is the one to beat.

14:50 Carlisle - Hillcrest @ 13/8

The Henry Daly-trained HILLCREST was a Grade 2-winning novice hurdler once upon a time, but injury problems kept him off the track for well over two years after that. Daly's 11-year-old is yet to win in seven starts over fences but has placed a couple of times.

There were signs of improvement at Uttoxeter last time out, although the handicapper has put him up 1lb since. It was a good effort and the front two were 50 lengths clear of the rest that day. It's possible that we haven't seen the best of him over fences and this trip will suit.

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New customers only. 00:00 06/03/26 – 23:59 13/03/26. Deposit via Debit Card & place first bet £10+ (1/1)+ on Sports in 7 days. £20 Sports & £20 in Acca Free Bets within 24 hours of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility, payment excls & T&Cs Apply.

16:02 Naas - High Class Hero @ 11/1

There's a prize fund of €100,000 on offer for the very competitive-looking Leinster National and one of Willie Mullins' three runners makes the most appeal. Finishing third in last season's bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown, HIGH CLASS HERO can get back on track here.

He was beaten by less than a length when second in a Grade 3 novice chase last term and he followed that up with an excellent effort at Sandown. Mullins' nine-year-old was a fair second on seasonal debut and is much better than he showed in the Thyesestes.

16:48 Warwick - House Of Habsburg @ 5/2

Christian Williams' HOUSE OF HABSBURG was pretty hopeless in five starts over hurdles, but as is the case with most of the yard's runners, he improved drastically for the switch to fences and has now won two of his three starts over the larger obstacles.

Impressive in a low-grade race at Uttoxeter on his penultimate start, he then followed up over an extended 3m1f here in January and saw the trip out well. Marathon trips could facilitate further improvement from the lightly raced sort and he can complete his hat-trick here.

Lucky 15 Tips with Betfred Insights.

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