Weld poised for treble
His Notable Graduate gets the nap in the final contest on the card, the one mile and six Guinness Race.
His whole preparation this season appears to have been geared towards this test and it is surely significant that blinkers are now fitted for the first time.
The four-year-old warmed up with a spin over ten furlongs when a promising enough sixth behind Strandfield Lady in a Leopardstown handicap in June.
Tom Taaffe’s Distant Memories has 12lbs in hand of Notable Graduate at the weights. That is hardly surprising considering he won a Listed race at Pontefract and a Group 3 at Windsor for Tom Tate and runs here unpenalised.
But Distant Memories hasn’t convinced in four outings over flights in this country and Notable Graduate is preferred.
Weld’s Pale Mimosa, making a belated start to the campaign, can land the Guinness EBF Maiden.
The daughter of Singspiel hasn’t been seen since finishing fourth to Alla Speranza at Cork in October.
That heat has been working out quite nicely and we can be certain that Pale Mimosa will arrive in tip-top shape.
A third Weld possibility is the well-regarded newcomer Muaanid, who is by Kheleyf, in the Guinness 17:59 EBF Median Auction Maiden.
The featured Guinness Handicap is best left to Tony Mullins’ very much in-form Clarach.
She ran a cracker here on Monday night, third to Midnight Music and Cry For The Moon, and dropping back half a mile in trip should work in her favour.
