RACING: Gateman will have to defy topweight and tradition in the McDonogh Handicap but the English raider is still set to play a key role in tonight's feature.
Majestic Nurse in 1979 is the only previous cross-channel winner of the €130,000 Listed race but Mark Johnston is coming double-handed to break that run.
Bouncing Bowdler will be ridden by the apprentice Paul Scallan but it is the Group Three winner Gateman and Michael Kinane that is the visiting number one.
"It is a bit of a gamble, with the weight and trip, but he is very well and we have come looking for the ground," Johnston said yesterday.
After winning the Minstrel Stakes at the Curragh, Gateman was lined up for the big handicap at Ascot on Saturday but was pulled out because of the fast going. It will be anything but fast tonight which leaves a 10-1 impost and the unknown factor of an extra half furlong uphill as the question marks hanging over Gateman.
One More Round is Pat Smullen's choice from the Dermot Weld-trained pair but he will hardly relish the conditions while last year's winner Sheer Tenby is trying for a double that only Pinch Hitter (1981-82) has achieved before.
Masnada has been upped 9lb for her big win at Leopardstown where Masani was half a length back in second with Maumee third. John Murtagh has good memories of winning this race having won it 10 years ago on Salmon Eile and the weight pull and the hill appears to leave Masani with a realistic shout.
The very next race sees Moon Shot line up for a handicap over the course and distance he won by five lengths last October. The Cunningham runner is rated 5lb higher now and doesn't have a great draw in two either. Even allowing for that, Moon Shot could be a value bet to score.
Ground conditions will hardly be ideal for Mutakarrim in the opener but even so, if he is to justify a run in Thursday's big hurdle, the high-class Stakes winner should be able to score. Missatrick looks the most likely to exploit any chinks in his armour.
Weld runs Perfect Touch in the three-year-old maiden and that one's debut second to La Pieta fills the ideal Weld profile for this kind of race. The fillies maiden for juveniles is a fascinating contest. Weld has won it eight times since 1990 including with horses of the calibre of Dance Design and Saranac Lake. His runner this time is Anna Frid, a sister to the good sprinter Agnetha, while Aidan O'Brien and John Oxx unveil daughters of Sadler's Wells.
A debut over seven furlongs on softish going might not have suited her sister but Anna Frid is believed to be smart enough to seriously contend. The Navan winner Dutsdale Dancer is 7lb higher for her last start but should appreciate the conditions in the last.
