IT’S KAST IN STONE

She ‘asa rock solid chance

PROGRESSIVE Kastasa should prove tough to beat on her seasonal debut in the Vintage Tipple Stakes, the listed feature of today’s flat card in Gowran Park.

Trained for the Aga Khan by Dermot Weld (inset), Kastasa narrowly won her maiden at Clonmel in April of 2019 and, third to King’s Vow on her handicap debut at Leopardstown, began her sequence of successes at Sligo in August, off a mark of 79.

A 5lb rise didn’t prevent the daughter of Rock Of Gibraltar from following-up in a similar fillies handicap at the Curragh two weeks later.

Kastasa proved her progress next time, when landing the valuable and ultra-competitive Petingo

(Premier) Handicap at Leopardstown on Champions Weekend at Leopardstown, scoring off a 13lb higher mark than her rating for her Sligo win.

Apprentice Andy Slattery partnered Kastasa to complete her four-timer and was trusted by Weld to ride the filly, without his claim, in the Group 3 Loughbrown Stakes at the Curragh two weeks later. And the partnership delivered again, beating Cypress Creek and former Irish Derby winner Capri to earn valuable black type.

Kastasa starts her four-year-old campaign today with a rating of 109 and, if close to being fully wound-up, she should have too much for her rivals. Obvious threat to the Rosewell filly is the Ger Lyons-trained Heliac, winner of the Red God at Dundalk before making a successful transition to stakes company in the Noblesse at Leopardstown. But Colin Keane’s mount has 7lb to find with the selection.

It’s hard to believe that 105-rated So Wonderful, whose form includes thirds in the Moyglare and Irish 1,000 Guineas, is still a maiden. But Aidan O’brien’s War Front filly has proven expensive to follow, throwing in a few below par efforts along the way. Seventh to Know It All in a Group 3 at Leopardstown two runs back, she filled fifth spot in a similar event, won by Valeria Messalina, in Cork last time and, in theory, should win the first division of the fillies maiden.

But So Wonderful is a ten-race maiden and, while she’s entitled to win a race of this type, lots of punters will be happy to avoid supporting her.

For them, each-way support of Joseph O’brien’s Never Forgotten, third to Etneya at the Curragh, might prove a more attractive, each-way, proposition.

In the handicap action, the Jessica Harrington-trained Shona Mea, successful here last month and a comfortable scorer at Leopardstown on Thursday, might defy her mandatory penalty in the seven-furlong handicap.

WIND HER UP AND GO Kastasa should prove too much for her rivals if she is in the mood this afternoon