7:00 – Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Maiden
With the turf season due to start in less than 24-hours at The Curragh, there is an early weekend appetizer at Dundalk on Friday evening with an 8-race card on the Polytrack. It’s limited fair, but the races are there to be won and if there is a touch of quality on the card, then it surely comes in the form of our teams Friday Night NAP.
Kieran Cotter has a perfect record in the last 14 days, 1 runner, 1 winner. Not much to go on, but in a race that probably won’t take too much winning, we will cling to the yard form as a positive for our best bet on the card, HEARTRATE. A €27,000 Tattersalls purchase, this son of Dragon Pulse has run with credit in 3 maiden starts so far and has shown more than enough to win a race as week as this. After a solid debut, he chased home the now 96-rated Clever and Cool on his 2nd start at Cork in September.
Returning from a break here 3-weeks ago, he again filled the runner-up spot, this time behind the Andrew Slattery trained Almendares, who has boosted the form by winning a Rated race in the interim. Having been keen in the early stages, Heartrate became involved in a protracted duel with the eventual winner and tired in the closing stages, which was understandable after an absence of 177-days. That run should have knocked any freshness out of him and if he finds any further improvement on his 4th start who should take this with ease.
