Ante-post / Timeform / 23 March 2012 /

There are three meetings in Ireland this weekend but the one that stands out is at the Curragh, as it signals the start of the Irish Flat season proper. Timeform look at the pick of the action.....

The Park Express Stakes over a mile for fillies aged 3-y-o and upwards provides the Group action and looks set to be an interesting affair. Anam Allta heads the ratings after a progressive campaign last term which culmimated with success in the Concorde Stakes by six lengths from Bay Knight. She's unexposed at a mile, acts on soft ground and looks a major player.

Of the other older horses Sikara makes some appeal as she represents Tommy Stack, who can normally be relied upon to have his string ready to roll in the early part of the season, and progressed well when returning from her summer break last year, winning a Cork handicap by a wide margin.

Aidan O'Brien is mob handed at the five-day stage and looks to have the pick of the classic generation, two of his potential runners both with large P's, Kissed and Twirl. This would represent a big step up for Kissed, for all that she won her two-year-old maiden at Navan easily, but she is bred in the purple and it would be significant if she is fast-tracked to pattern company. Twirl also has just a maiden win to her name, but in beating Maude Adams by a wide margin at Leopardstown last backend she posted a near-smart figure and probably wouldn't need to improve much to take this en route to bigger things.

The other feature event on the card is the Irish Lincolnshire (Premier Handicap). The aforementioned Sikara also holds an entry in this contest and would be a big player off a mark of 95 given her potential, while another lightly-raced sort in the line-up is Font of Wisdom, who made it third time lucky in a Galway maiden last summer in very impressive fashion. Admittedly that wasn't a strong race and she lacks experience for a race of this type, having not been seen since that success, but her initial mark is certainly workable and she's sure to prove popular.

Ansaab quickly established himself as a strong-travelling sort in four runs last term so could be just the type to thrive in big-field handicaps this time around, especially as he's unexposed at a mile, but on the downside he hasn't always looked entirely straightforward.

The British challenge is headed up by Maverik, who has gone from strength to strength since joining Ralph Beckett, winning a handicap at Kempton in January that is working out extremely well before following up on the snow at St Moritz. His prominent style of racing should lend itself well to this course and he'll give a bold show provided he can translate his improvement back onto turf.

Richard Fahey holds two entries in Take It To The Max and the Timeform Betfair Racing Club's Arabian Spirit , and the former looks particularly interesting. Take It To The Max joined Fahey before the start of the 2011 campaign and hasn't looked back since, winning four times and improving another chunk when making all at Leopardstown in October. He did well that day as all the other principals came from well back and a 9 lb rise looks fair.
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