Leopardstown Horse Racing Tips: Best Bets For DRF Day 2

January 29, 2026

See here our best bets for Day 2 of Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival headlined by the Irish Champion Hurdle.

The ground is soft to heavy on the hurdles track and yielding to soft on the chase track with around 35-40mm of rain due before racing begins on Saturday.

Leopardstown Horse Racing Tips

2:10 – Marine Nationale @ 2/1
3:20 – Brighterdaysahead @ 15/8
3:52 – A Dream To Share @ 10/1 E/W

2:10 – Ladbrokes Dublin Chase (Grade 1) – MARINE NATIONALE @ 2/1

The most complete package in the Dublin Chase looks to be MARINE NATIONALE and pending there is no heavy in the going description, he should take all the beating.

His owner-trainer Barry Connell is on record saying all he needs to do is put in a clear round of jumping to land this prize and those bullish claims are well founded.

The nine-year-old survived a miraculous mistake at the second fence on reappearance here in the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase, making up an incredible amount of ground to go down by half a length to the reopposing Solness.

Pending he can avoid another error like that there’s no reason why this race isn’t his to lose. The chase track is unlikely to be too slow and there’ll be a fresh strip of ground to race on so hopefully the torrential rain stays away.

That being said he has Grade 1 form on soft ground over hurdles and he probably doesn’t need to be at the peak of his powers to win with greater concern regarding conditions for Solness and Majborough is too much of an unknown quantity.

Since last spring Marine Nationale has painted the picture of a complete, professional athlete who has finally got his act together over fences and the reigning Champion Chaser hasn’t done much wrong in nearly a year.

3:20 – Timeless Sash Windows Irish Champion Hurdle (Grade 1) – BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD @ 15/8

The Irish Champion Hurdle is shaping up to be an absolute corker with the second renewal of Lossiemouth vs BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD and marginal preference is awarded to the latter.

Only a pair separated the pair in the finish of the December Hurdle at Christmas and while both are expected to take a step forward from that, there could be more improvement from Brighterdaysahead whose preparation for the race was nothing short of turbulent.

Gordon Elliott mentioned she stood in her box for three weeks in November as she recovered from a small injury and that was a big performance all things considered.

There will be a newfound freedom awarded to Jack Kennedy in the saddle, reluctant to make the running on reappearance but with race fitness on side this time around we can expect a more aggressive ride and Lossiemouth might find it hard to pass her from behind.

In what seems almost a 50-50 match the Gigginstown representative presents better value at the prices and Brighterdaysahead is the one to side with.

3:52 – Padel At Leopardstown Golf Launching Spring 2026 Handicap Hurdle (Listed) – A DREAM TO SHARE @ 10/1 E/W

A DREAM TO SHARE was a winner at this meeting a few years back and the former Champion Bumper hero could be well in off a mark of 124.

He’s been steadily improving over hurdles this season, fourth in a decent race at Down Royal in November before a promising effort at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve where his jumping looked like it had finally clicked.

Dropping back to the minimum trip will be of aid here and one could imagine this has been the plan for a while considering how he’s been campaigned this year over further.

This outfit must always be feared in valuable handicaps and it’s a good opportunity for the son of Muhaarar to show what he’s capable of on a going day.