DERMOT WELD'S successful start to the season has been a feature of the fledgling Flat campaign to date and the Curragh trainer unveils an interesting new recruit in Tian Shan at Tipperary this evening.
Formerly trained by Andre Fabre in Chantilly, Tian Shan ran just three times in France but the third of those appearances yielded a close third in a Group Three at Longchamp last June.
That gives him a rating of 107 going into today's seven-furlong conditions race and a performance near that mark should see him make a winning Irish debut.
John Oxx looks the Curragh trainer to follow in the seven-furlong maiden with Kargali.
The Aga Khan-owned grey colt was expected to go well on his Curragh debut and after racing off the pace in the early stages found only Poet half a length too good at the line.
Today's race is half a furlong shorter but pace doesn't look an issue and Rose Rouge's 85 rating doesn't look a particularly high bar.
In contrast, The Loan Express has a 103 mark in the conditions sprint that is hard to argue with while her stable companion Munsters Call can complete a hat-trick in the apprentice handicap.
