Higgins looks the best option
It will be a surprise should The Visitor prove good enough, but the in-form pair, Cape Glory and Indian Icon, hold obvious prospects against Charles O’Brien’s charge.
The selection has run just three times over flights, once in a Grade 1 and twice in Grade 2’s.
He was predictably outclassed on all three occasions, on ground that was too testing for him anyway, but did impress with his jumping.
The Jeremy gelding warmed up for this test by scoring on the flat at Leopardstown four weeks ago, quickening nicely in the closing stages, after being extricated from a less than promising position in the straight by Fran Berry.
Henry Higgins wore a hood then and, interestingly, it is now utilised for the first time over jumps.
Ger Lyons’ Bad News Bear, no match for Dermot Weld’s well-regarded newcomer, Stay De Night, at Limerick, can take the Irish Stallion Farms’ EBF Median Auction Maiden.
Lyons’ Snowmane, who went up 9lbs for an easy success when shaping like a thorough stayer at Down Royal, is fancied to make light of that with an extra three and a half furlongs to travel in the City North Handicap.
At Wexford, Colm Murphy’s Presenting Beara has to be a confident choice in the Tuskar Rock Beginners Chase.
He ran a cracker when second to the smart Pageboy at Fairyhouse in May, subsequent winner Dushybeag was third, and faces nothing of that calibre now.
Aidan O’Brien’s Beach Of Falesa, given a run on the flat at the Curragh five days ago, can win the info@wexfordraces.ie Mares’ Maiden Hurdle.
