Leopardstown and Limerick Tips: Aidan O'Brien contender has 'considerable potential' Leopardstown stages a quality seven-race card on Saturday, the first of their two-day AutumnFest Meeting, which brings the curtain down on the track’s Flat season. It’s a day confined to two-year-olds and features a pair of Group 3s. Elsewhere, there’s a competitive seven-race card from Limerick and our expert, Trevor Page, has selected his best three bets of the day. Saturday’s Tips 13.45 Limerick - Touch The Moon 15:15 Leopardstown - Thread Of Gold 17:20 Leopardstown - River Ara 13.45 Limerick - Touch The Moon Four-year-old Flat recruit Touch The Moon was just pipped on his hurdling/stable debut for William Durkan at Navan last month, a lack of a recent run arguably proving costly. The son of Sea The Stars showed a good level of ability on the Flat for British trainer George Scott, particularly in Bahrain where he won back-to-back middle-distance handicaps last winter. He was beaten a length into third over 1m4f off a mark of 91 at Ripon on his return to the UK in May and that form now reads well, with both the winner and runner-up having won off higher marks subsequently. Purchased for 55,000gns at the sales in July, he shaped with immense promise on his hurdling debut, albeit jumping out to his right on that occasion and suggesting this right-handed track at Limerick will be in his favour. 15.15 Leopardstown - Thread Of Gold Willie Mullins has had just one two-year-old winner from 11 runners over the past five seasons, that being Thread Of Gold, who looked a smart prospect when winning on his introduction over 7f at The Curragh in August. Thread Of Gold, who is closely related to a pair of AW winners, the best of being Great Esteem (1m4f AW; RPR 99), was sent-off a relatively unconsidered 11/1 chance on debut, but won with plenty of authority under Joey Sheridan, picking up stylishly once finding daylight to score by a growing two-length margin. This Group 3 at Leopardstown clearly represents a tougher task for the son of Ghaiyyath, but he’s already run to a Racing Post Rating of 92 - leaving him with very little to find - and is open to any amount of improvement now stepped up to 1m1f. 17:20 Leopardstown - River Ara River Ara is probably some way down the pecking order in terms of juvenile fillies’ with Aidan O’Brien this season, but she retains considerable potential and should be hard to beat off a mark of 85 in the concluding nursery at Leopardstown. The 300,000gns purchase is, like her sire St Mark’s Basilica, likely to make up into a better three-year-old, but she’s shown enough to suggest she’ll be a major force in this grade, finishing placed in a pair of maidens at Cork, the latest over a mile last month. She ran to a Racing Post Rating of 81, leaving her little improvement to find off this official mark, and given she holds an entry in next season’s Irish 1,000 Guineas, you’d be hopeful she can outclass these rivals.
