Get

(Aidan O’Brien)

Cork, August 16th

Given she hadn’t been seen since last October and wasn’t the stable’s first string on jockey bookings, it can be considered a promising return to action from Get when finishing fourth in an extended-mile-and-a-quarter maiden for fillies at Cork.

The form of her first two starts last year has been working out well in her absence. On her debut, she finished sixth in a Cork maiden where the first two home were Oaks heroine Ezeliya and Group 3 Guineas Trial winner Wendla. Higher Leaves, fourth, and Flight Of Fancy, fifth, also went on to win maidens.

Elizabeth Jane (fourth in Irish Oaks), Andromeda (Galway Festival maiden winner) and the aforementioned Higher Leaves were the only runners to finish in front of her at Leopardstown in October, while the fifth and sixth have also won since.

This well-bred Galileo filly, who fetched 360,000gns as a yearling, can be expected to improve from her 300-day layoff and has the potential to step up to a mile and a half too.

Straight Home

(Willie Mullins)

Tramore, August 16th

Going up in trip also looks a potential angle for improvement with Straight Home, who couldn’t collect as 5/6 favourite at Tramore in a mares’ handicap hurdle, but shaped with the potential for success off her mark of 97 in third.

Making her first start since switching to Willie Mullins from Tim Townend, she got involved in a bit of scrimmaging and was outpaced as the business end of the race began to unfold, clocking the third slowest sectional of any runner in the field from the four to three-furlong pole.

All she did was stay, however. Even when including that more sluggish aforementioned sectional, she was the third fastest in the field from four furlongs out to the line and only the winner hit the line harder in the final furlong. This point-to-point-winning Yeats mare looks up to adding to her Cork bumper success before long.

Fiona Maccoul

(Jessica Harrington)

Curragh, August 17th

There were certainly positives to take from Fiona Maccoul’s debut fifth in a 17-runner juvenile maiden at the Curragh last Saturday for Jessica Harrington and the Syndicates.Racing team. Nibbled at in the market to be sent off a 9/2 chance, the Coulsty filly ended up breaking slowly and was close to last approaching halfway.

She wasn’t helped by lacking daylight and the winner had already stolen a clear march on her entering the closing stages, but, under an educational ride by Ronan Whelan, she finished out in an eyecatching manner. She never looked like winning, beaten six and a half lengths, though the Coursetrack sectionals show she clearly has a gear.

Her sectional time of 10.94 seconds in the third furlong was the second fastest of any horse in any furlong of the race, and only the winner was quicker than her through the final two furlongs (by just 0.05 seconds). More will be learned about her next time if getting a clear run but she’s bound to be of interest in auction company again.

Hale Bopp

(Dick Donohoe)

Curragh, August 17th

It’s been over two years since his last turf win off a mark of 85 - and he can be a little hit and miss - but there was more than a flicker of hope that Hale Bopp can win off a rating of 47 on the grass if getting his favoured quick ground again over the next month or so. In a 28-runner handicap at the Curragh over seven furlongs, he didn’t get a clear run from stall 33 and came home strongly to pick up a minor share of the prize money. His final two furlongs were quicker than anything else in the field and he remains rated 11lb lower on turf than the all-weather.