Ten Irish lads and lasses go to the gate for this week’s Irish Dirt Futurity. It will be run a mile on the dirt course for a purse of $75,000. We have several multiple stakeswinners here, along with allowance winners, maidens, and some who haven’t been on dirt before.<\/br><\/br>On the rail at 8\/1 is outsider’s King Of Hunks(IRE)<\/b>. He performed miserably in his four turf starts before coming to life on dirt with an 84 in his maiden victory. He was severely outclassed in his stakes appearance last time out, but his 81 proved that the maiden was no fluke and dirt is where he truly belongs. H. Wester rides.<\/br><\/br>In post two at 5\/2 is irshaman’s Paragon(IRE)<\/b>, a fitting name for today’s favourite. The son of Perfect Soul(IRE) is a perfect 2 for 2 in routes, and ran a very impressive 87 last time out in winning his stakes debut. E C Doyle rode him in his two sprint starts here, and is back today to get him across the line first at a distance that suits him much better.<\/br><\/br>In post three at 11\/1 is eddieboo’s Sleep Now In The F(IRE)<\/b>. Such a clever name for this Black Tie Affair(IRE) colt. *curses Zach De La Rocha for leaving the band* D. Nickesy gets the mount on the colt who has definitely improved since he moved up to routes. He has yet to break 80, though, and will need inspiration from the move here to Ireland to be a factor this time.<\/br><\/br>In post four at 14\/1 is gonzuela’s Tribute To Ireland(IRE)<\/b>. The son of Noverre(IRE) improved when moved to dirt for his second race, and should, in theory at least, appreciate the extra distance today, particularly with Summer Squall as his DS. I have a feeling he’ll be a later bloomer, and will most likely be more of a tribute as he gets older and the distances go much beyond a mile.<\/br><\/br>In post five at 5\/1 is buytapia3’s Sabre Ally(IRE)<\/b>. I am still floored to have such a fantastically-bred filly (Theatrical(IRE) x Seattle Slew) named after me. It goes without saying that this one is going to want distance…even if I don’t tell you that Broad Brush is her DDS. Only two runs under her belt so far, both a 73 in turf miles. She may get a boost from the surface switch. Dr. Schneidbaitzim(IRE), winner of last week’s Emerald Isle, ran better on dirt early in her career, before going back to turf and ultimately winning a 12f stakes, so don’t be afraid to go back to turf later even if she should do well on dirt.<\/br><\/br>In post six at 4\/1 is irebreed’s Miesques Mix(IRE)<\/b>. This beautiful dark grey Fair Mix(IRE) filly is already a multiple stakeswinner, taking the Brown Fairy Spring Festival here in Ireland and following it up with another win in Finland right after. She has placed in a couple of others since then, and ran her best speed figure, an 84, last time out when finishing second in her first mile, and it was against the boys. Z. Kentucky gets the ride on this fantastic filly.<\/br><\/br>In post seven at 11\/1 is broodmares’ Roncalli(IRE)<\/b>. A son of Peintre Celebre(IRE) x King Of Kings(IRE), he has only run twice, but ran second in his first mile last time out. Both were on turf, but his pedigree suggests that he may really take to dirt, and definitely will want to go at least a mile. Mizzi Russell is up, and with the turf to dirt angle, he could be a real surprise here.<\/br><\/br>In post eight at 5\/1 is larrydoyle’s Ask And Seek(IRE)<\/b>, a colt that I’m all-too-familiar with. A real looker, the Daylami(IRE) x Theatrical(IRE) colt took several others, including one of mine, to school last time out in a stakes in Oregon, coming from well off the pace to capture the race with an 83. He has two other stakes wins to his credit, and, despite having run here four times, this is the first time A. Reed will be in the saddle. It’s also his first route, but with that kind of pedigree, he should be screaming for more distance.<\/br><\/br>In post nine at 99\/1 is ravenclaw’s Eight Miles High(IRE)<\/b>. A son of Mandrake Major(IRE), he was impressive in his debut despite running second. He was unable to duplicate that, however, and was apparently sold in the auction and then repurchased by original breeder ravenclaw after making several starts for another stable. At the moment, signs point to this being his one and only stakes appearance, but he hasn’t routed yet, and, stranger things have happened before.<\/br><\/br>In post ten at 10\/1 is calle4’s My Grand Thought(IRE)<\/b>. I had thought that Best Of The Bests(IRE) was Niclas’ favourite sire, but here he has yet another Grandera(IRE), and she is a beauty! The bright chestnut girl has two wins and a second in three starts on dirt, and was very impressive last time out in winning an allowance in Dubai, her first route. If C. Rice gets her out there fast into the lead where she wants to be, she may show these colts a thing or two.<\/br><\/br>Quite a large field, with a large variety of ability here. Paragon(IRE) looks like an easy favorite, but will the backdown in distance to a flat mile be his downfall? How will Ask And Seek(IRE) respond to the extra furlong and the long trip from Oregon? Miesques Mix(IRE) looks like she should be in the mix as well, and has Kentucky in the irons. But, don’t leave out My Grand Thought(IRE), who could steal the race on the lead if no one challenges her. This race has more questions than answers at this point. Good luck to all and may they all come home sound. GO IRELAND!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More Questions Than Answers In Field Of Ten<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":362,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/362"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}