Top Three Horses to Watch in Ireland This Weekend We have some competitive racing to look forward to in Ireland this weekend, with Fairyhouse and Naas taking centre stage on Saturday before Naas and Cork provide the entertainment on Sunday. Here we take a closer look at the Saturday action and pick out three horses to follow, including a daughter of the top-class hurdler Apples Jade and a son of Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Found. 14:35 Naas (Saturday) The second race on the card at Naas on Saturday is a maiden over a mile and a field of 17 has been declared. Aidan O’Brien’s Maestro Bernstein is easily the most intriguing of them all and one look at his pedigree will tell you why. Wootton Bassett’s tragic passing has made the superstar sire’s progeny all the more valuable and this colt is another one of his sons. His dam was a superstar racehorse in her own right and won three Group 1s including the 2016 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Maestro Bernstein should therefore be a very smart horse in theory, although he didn’t show a great deal on debut. He did run into traffic problems but was comfortably beaten in the end, eventually finishing eighth. The yard’s runners often improve significantly from their debuts so there’s a good chance that this horse will do the same. It’s possible that he’s going to want further than a mile ideally but should be able to get away with it in a race of this stature. 15:50 Naas (Saturday) The Listed RFL Steels Stakes is the feature race on the card at Naas and there’s €45,000 on offer. US import Fandom joined Joseph O’Brien’s yard this year and was entitled to need the run when finishing fifth on stable debut at Tipperary, which was his first start for over a year. Understandably weakening in the closing stages, we should see a much fitter colt this time around. He bolted up on debut at Keeneland as a two-year-old, when he was trained by Wesley Ward. The son of Showcasing then finished 11th in the Coventry Stakes. Fandom won a Listed race at Saratoga on his last start in America and should be capable of competing in the same grade at Naas. O’Brien has had plenty of winners over the last couple of weeks and another one could be on the cards. 16:05 Fairyhouse (Saturday) This is a pretty run of the mill mares’ maiden hurdle on the surface at Fairyhouse but there’s one runner who looks worth keeping an eye on. Apple’s Jade was a very talented mare a few years ago and she managed to win plenty of Grade 1 races. Her first foal, Apples Jane, is set to make her debut over hurdles and expectations will be high as a result. By the excellent National Hunt sire Walk In The Park, both sides of her pedigree stand out so she has probably been a little disappointing in bumpers. Gordon Elliott trains Apples Jane and her dam never ran in a bumper so perhaps there’s more to come now tackling obstacles. The step up in trip could also help and this four-year-old filly is definitely one for the notebook.
