She’s Our Mark long overdue
Pat Flynn’s mare, without a win since August of last year, has run some tremendous races this season, filling the runner-up berth twice in stakes company at Gowran Park.
Runner-up to Katiyra and, more recently, a fast-finishing head second to Shreyas in a Group 3 on the Kilkenny track, She’s Our Mark also finished an unlucky second to Celtic Dane in the valuable Tote Galway Mile in mid-summer.
Trainer Flynn also tried her in Group 1 company, in the Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes, when she finished seventh of eight behind New Approach.
She’s Our Mark undoubtedly deserves a change of luck and, on her first visit to Dundalk, she’s expected to get the better of Charlie Swan's Jalmira, the mount of Fran Berry.
The listed Mercury Stakes should prove a fascinating feature at Dundalk, having attracted three speedy British-raiders, Group 1 winner Borderlescott and Dandy Nicholls’ pair Peace Offering and Masta Plasta. Nicholls’ speedsters will insure plenty of pace in this five-furlong dash. But the Robin Bastiman-trained Borderlescott might be capable of cutting them down late.
Borderlescott, the mount of Pat Cosgrave, is a tough and hardened campaigner and earned his reward when landing the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes, transferred from York to Newmarket, in August.
Since then, he finished a creditable third to Europe's top sprinter Marchand D'Or in the controversial Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp. Trainer Bastiman found tonight’s race as a suitable way for the six-year-old to end his season. And he should prove tough to beat at this level.
Eddie Lynam will be doubly-represented in the mile two-year-old maiden and might land the prize with twice-raced Riobamba, the mount of Billy Lee. This filly was short-headed by Dabirana in a course and distance maiden last time, form boosted when the winner ran third in a listed event at Fairyhouse.
