As early season novice chases go, today's Purcell Bros Novice Chase is about as good as they get, and Lady Daisy is selected to break her duck over fences against some already proven chase winners.
These include the versatile Moscow Express, who already has a defeat of the Kerry National winner, Treble Bob, to his name, the impressive Tralee winner, Johnny Brushaside, and the Galway scorer, Magical Way, but Lady Daisy is still preferred.
For one thing, if this was a handicap hurdle, Tony Mullins's consistent grey would be giving away a lot of weight and, for another, she proved her ability to jump with a fine round on her Tralee debut behind Aglish Pride.
Over the stiff Tralee fences both Lady Daisy and Aglish Pride put in sparkling rounds and it was only from the last that the winner pulled away. Lady Daisy should come on from that, gets a significant chunk of weight from Moscow Express and would handle any softer ground better than Johnny Brushaside.
Lady Daisy's rider, Jason Titley, should have an interesting ride on the enigmatic Sunday Venture in the second division of the maiden hurdle, but a safer bet looks to be the course bumper winner, Daraheen Chief; while Coolaness is just preferred to the likely favourite, Kings Banquet, in the first division.
The most valuable race on the card is the £15,000 Harp Lager Handicap and here Space Trucker should take a lot of beating. Jessica Harrington's horse was catching Yuan hand over fist at the Curragh last Saturday and only lost out by the minimum margin.
Ten furlongs on a decent surface is ideal flat territory for Space Trucker and he should be able to come late and fast against another Curragh runner-up, Red Piper, the Galway runner-up Golden Rule and She's Our Mare.
Another horse that will be hard to beat is Michael Hourigan's Robazala in the opportunity hurdle. Third under an apprentice to Just Wondering here on the flat on Wednesday, Robazala looks a different proposition now to when she last ran over hurdles and. with Andrew "Frosty" Kelly on board, looks up to beating the likes of Lisard River.
Another horse who finished runner-up to Yuan at the Curragh last time is Dee-One-O-One, who should prove hard to beat in the opener; while Act Of Defiance, fourth to Shantarini here during the week, is rated to win the last.
Mardani, John Oxx's progressive three-year-old, will be out to complete a hat-trick in the £41,000 Grand Prix Jockey Club at Diesldorf, Zurich, on Sunday.
The former Aga Khan-owned colt is coming off wins at Dundalk and Leopardstown. Pat Smullen rides in the extended mile and a half Swiss race.
Smullen has also been booked for another horse owned by Markus Graff, the Mark Johnston-trained Celestial Key, in the Grosser Preis des Tages-Anzeigers (1m).
