Johnny Ward's Irish Angle: Clash has what it takes to rock Curragh rivals

The Curragh is really coming into its own in terms of the customer experience and patrons have two opportunities to visit this weekend.

Navan has relatively nice ground for a run-of-the-mill jumps card, with the main jumps fare still several weeks away.

Be lucky.

Michael O'Callaghan may well have saved this horse for this lucrative contest; he has been sparingly campaigned in recent months. The ground is in his favour and the addition of a visor is interesting as he was sluggish from the gates here last time when an excellent third. He is pretty well-handicapped if things go right.

Dermot McLoughlin is having a decent season and Monstrosity may be worth chancing here. As his name suggests, he is a real chasing type, and he has gotten his act together for this trainer, notably wearing a tongue tie when running away with a maiden hurdle at Ballinrobe.

Miss Clash could do very well for her outstanding young trainer. The Mastercraftsman-bred looked to have a hopeless task for much of her Gowran introduction and she fared extremely well to finish second to Bashiyr. The betting will be interesting here, since Bashiyr represents the same connections of Sheranda, a major danger on paper.

This horse is by little-known German sire Eliot, who was a high-class middle-distance performer and is trained by Olivia Byrne, who has never trained a winner. However, he made a really nice start at Clonmel when second to Jazz Toes and this might be a moderate enough contest for Navan standards.

This filly by New Approach has a little to find with Unknown Pleasures on their Cork debut offering in a smart maiden but she looks sure to progress. This is a cracking race, won last year by Hermosa.

Now The King made an excellent start behind Valeria Messalina in a Naas maiden that should work out well. He was not very smartly away but showed a great attitude and should take a lot of beating here.

Johnny's tips for the weekend action: