Shorter trip to suit Purpose
She began the season with a couple of modest efforts, but her last two performances have been a big improvement.
At Cork in June Sense Of Purpose was beaten three lengths into second by the ultra-smart Banimpire in another Group 3 and then stepped up on that effort on her latest appearance.
On this track last month the daughter of Galileo made all of the running to beat Bob Le Beau by a neck in a Listed event.
That mile and six certainly stretched the selection’s stamina and she is fancied to confirm the placings, dropping down in trip and on 3lbs worse terms.
Marksmanship, a hard horse to assess, and progressive handicapper, Mount Athos, help to make it a cracking contest.
Aidan O’Brien complicates matters by running three in the Irish Stallion Farms’ EBF Maiden, but one of them, Learn, should prove a tough nut to crack.
He was gabbed late and beaten a length by Dermot Weld’s highly rated Riviera Poet at Galway ten days ago and the fact it was a further 13 lengths back to the third speaks for itself.
Willie Mullins is the man to follow at Sligo. His Rattan, whose last three outings have been on the flat, is a useful sort over jumps and hard to oppose in the Martin Reilly BMW Dealer Novice Hurdle.
Mullins’ Pickapocketortwo is the one to be on in the three mile Setanta Screens Maiden Hurdle.
He hasn’t run since being outpaced by Days Hotel over an extended two miles at Clonmel in March and this looks a suitable opportunity.
A third Mullins possibility is Local Celebrity in the Bumper. His only outing saw him go down by a short head to Miss Hyland at Naas a year ago — the third was 24 lengths away — and fitness is rarely an issue with Mullins inmates.
