Easter Monday tips: Andy Stephens marks your card

The BoyleSports Irish takes centre stage on Bank Holiday Monday and the Fairyhouse feature has plenty of supporting acts.

There are 60 other races in Britain and Ireland, with 636 runners declared across the eight meetings. Even the most hardened of formbook students will have struggled to digest that lot.

The latest chapter in the trainers’ title showdown between Dan Skelton and Willie Mullins will take place at Plumpton and it looks like there will still be everything to play for at Sandown Park on Saturday when their battle will conclude.

Skelton has led almost from day one and, almost a year later, you’ve got to admire the way he has kept jabbing away since Mullins all but got upsides him on Scottish Grand National Day. You just sense the latter has some almighty right-hand hooks left in his locker for that final round at Esher.

But that’s all to come. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves and instead focus on a magic Monday.

in the Irish National but here are four other selections to consider. 

It was 17 years ago that Conor O’Dwyer bowed out with awinner at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival. It was a fitting send off for a superb horseman and I’d imagine the jockey-turned-trainer will get a similar buzz if he can land this with Solsbury Hill, who will be ridden by his son, Charlie. 

has been much more competitive since switching to handicap ranks, scooping an 18-runner contest at Leopardstown in early March before finishing a close third in another big field at Wexford a couple of weeks later, when he didn’t help himself by being keener than ideal in the early stages and bungling two out. 

Nevertheless, that latter effort is working out a treat, with the winner since following up (now rated 13lb than he was at Wexford) and the runner-up subsequently going one better one better in emphatic style (now 14lb higher). 

Solsbury Hill is only 1lb higher here and, provided he settles better, looks sure to make his presence felt. 

The £100,000 feature at Plumpton promises to be a fast and furious affair because Asta La Pasta (Skelton), Sans Bruit, Westport Cove (Mullins) and Matterhorn all like to get on with things. 

It may well be that the race is teed up for a closer and the one who fits the bill is Coastguard Station, who is habitually held up in his races. 

He’s obliged to race from 2lb out of the handicap but he’s fresh, well served by sharp tracks like Plumpton and was arguably better than ever when pouncing from off the pace to score at Ascot last time. The early 16-1 on offer with Coral makes him an interesting each-way proposition. 

I don’t need to be told that this eight-year-old is a frustrating character who has begun to make a habit of not finding much off the bridle. He's been more Game Of Moans than Game Of Thrones.

However, there’s little doubt he’s got the ability required to win this, and he’s a double-figure price with Paddy Power. 

I like the fact Paul Nolan is discarding his usual blinkers (it can be liberating for horses) and giving a different jockey (Sean Flanagan) a spin on him. It’s not that his usual rider, Sean O’Keeffe, has been accountable for a sequence of defeats, more than a change may just add a spark. 

ran creditably in the Coral Cup off a mark of 147 last time and is favoured by the conditions of this race. The favourite, Kopeck De Mee, was undeniably eye-catching in defeat at Aintree last time but he will have had only 17 days to recharge his batteries and if this were a handicap he would be 7lb better off with Sandor Clegane. 

It’s very hard to find any chinks in his armour and yet you can back him at 13-8. He really should be much shorter. 

He’s got the best form (beat all bar Fact To File in the Ryanair Chase last time), has at least 6lb in hand on the official ratings and is racing over his optimum trip, plus he won’t be troubled by the testing ground. 

Moreover, he’s had a light campaign and was desperately unlucky not to land a Grade One contest on his only previous visit to this track in December when narrowly failing to peg back Croke Park in the Drinmore.