Bolger colt can deny O’brien

THE consistent, Jim Bolger-trained Agitare will be expected to open his account in the one-mile Irish Stallion Farms 2-Y-0 Maiden at Leopardstown.

The Teofilo colt, in the frame in each of his four starts, has earned an official rating of 100, which should make him difficult to beat in any maiden. And his turn might come today.

Pipped by Cormorant on his debut at this track, Agitare then finished runner-up to Sinawann at the Curragh before finishing fourth to subsequent Royal Lodge (Group 2) winner Royal Dornoch at Gowran Park.

But he produced his best effort over today’s course and distance last time. On Champions Weekend, he didn’t enjoy the best of luck in running before staying on to finish third, beaten three lengths, behind Ballydoyle colt Mogul (currently second-favourite for next year’s Investec Derby) and Sinawann in a Group 2 event.

Dropping back into maiden company, Agitare sets a decent standard here and gets the nod over some less exposed types, notably Aidan O’brien’s Nobel Prize.

In the earlier fillies maiden, Dermot Weld’s Amma Grace has excellent prospects as she bids to build on a promising third to Passion on her debut at Cork, where she had subsequent Group 3 winner New York Girl back in fourth.

But marginal preference is for the Michael Halfordtrained Mastercraftsman filly Sindhia, which caught the eye before and during her debut run at Naas, where she made significant late headway to fill fourth spot behind Valeria Messalina (went on to finish a close second in a Group 3 at Newmarket) and subsequent winner Now The King. With improvement expected, she makes plenty of appeal.

Today’s card features two stakes races and both might go to Ballydoyle, with Wayne Lordan set to partner Iberia and Mount Everest.

Iberia, rated just 1lb superior to Geometrical, was beaten less than two lengths when third to stable-companion Royal Dornoch in the Group 2 Royal Lodge in Newmarket last time and might have the edge here in the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes.

Mount Everest, pipped by star stable-companion Japan in the Beresford last year, looks well-treated by the conditions of the listed Trigo Stakes, in which Matt Smith’s remarkably progressive One Cool Poet, whose rating has rocketed from 66 to 100 thanks to his recent exploits, makes his stakes race debut.

Mount Everest shaped with promise behind stable-companion Morway on his belated seasonal debut on this track but disappointed on a recent visit to Newmarket, where he finished only fourth of five behind Mountain Hunter in a listed race.

He’s better than that and might get the better of Dermot Weld’s Rakan, returning after a break.