Exciting mares start off at Sligo Dressedtothenines starts her career over fences against another of owner JP McManus' bright prospects at Sligo on Wednesday. Eddie Harty's six-year-old was no match for Annie Power at Clonmel last February but went on to complete a hat-trick over hurdles, culminating in a defeat of Zaidpour in a Grade Two at Fairyhouse. The vast majority of her opponents in the www.countysligoraces.com Mares Beginners Chase have shown a moderate level of form to date, but Speckled Wood does not fit into that category. A daughter of McManus' beloved mare Like-A-Butterfly, she won two small events in the winter and looked unlucky to have been beaten at Killarney in May after making a serious mistake. Harty said of Dressedtothenines: "She's in good form, has schooled well and is ready for her first start of the season. "It's a nice place to start, two miles and one furlong might be a bit on the sharp side but we wanted to start off low-key. "There's no point throwing her in at the deep-end, and it's a bit like a young fellow playing football, you don't know what they are going to do until they pull on the jersey. "Let's hope for a clear round and a nice run, and then we can start looking for something else."
