‘Rapidly improving sprinter’ - Saturday’s Irish Lucky 15 Tips The Curragh stages a bumper eight-race card on Saturday afternoon, the action getting underway at 1.25pm. Big fields are the order of the day, a total of 113 declared, including 10 in the feature Listed Gladness Stakes and 23 in the finale. We’ve provided our best four bets from the fixture for a possible Lucky15 perm, including one for trainer Martin Hassett, who has shown rapid improvement in sprint handicaps at this venue. 1:55 Curragh - Dmaniac The Martin Hassett-trained DMANIAC is a rapidly improving sprinter and he looks set to complete a course hat-trick. The four-year-old signed off last season with a smooth success over 6f here on heavy ground off a mark of 71 in October and made light of a 9lb rise when winning by three-lengths over the same course-and-distance in near identical conditions earlier this month. He’s up another 7lb to 87, but he ran to a Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 94 on his reappearance and likely still has a fair bit in hand of the assessor. He’s only once finished out of a first three in six visits to this venue and a drop back to 5f ought to prove no inconvenience. 2:30 Curragh - Factual Fact The Henry de Bromhead-trained FACTUAL FACT unfortunately got struck into when pulled up on his hurdling debut at Cork in November, but he’s been given plenty of time to recover and should make a bold bid on his return to the Flat. The seven-year-old has been rarely seen since winning a Thurles bumper by a wide margin on his debut three years ago, but he’s shown a good level ability in his three Flat outings, running to RPRs of 77 (twice) when placed at Killarney and Tipperary and 78 when beaten a nose (well ahead of the re-opposing Maeve Brennan) over today’s course-and-distance on heavy ground. Fitness has to be taken on trust, but an opening official mark of 77 could be lenient and Billy Lee is booked for the ride, another positive. 3:05 Curragh - Albert Einstein The unbeaten ALBERT EINSTEIN makes his long awaited return to the track in the feature Gladness Stakes, Aidan O’Brien’s colt bidding to solidify his 2,000 Guineas claims. The son of Wootton Bassett is held in highest regard at Ballydoyle and has been towards the head of the betting for the Newmarket Classic since winning a Group 3 over 6f here in May of last year. Niggly issues prevented him from running more than twice as a juvenile, but recent reports are encouraging and this looks an ideal starting point for him this term before he turns his sights on Group 1 glory. 5:25 Curragh - Lough Leane The Maurice Andrew Ahern-trained LOUGH LEANE is yet to win on turf, but he’s often run well in defeat on this surface, as was the case when finding just one too good on his reappearance over a mile here earlier this month. The six-year-old, who has won six of his 14 outings on the artificial surfaces, has been placed seven times from 16 tries on turf and shaped like a return to 7f would suit when fading late on here behind Electric Beauty (runs 4.15) here 13 days earlier. Talented apprentice Julian Pietropaolo takes off a valuable 7lb and they look all set for a big run.
