STRIKE FORCE

Ger turns sights on Final glory

REAL FORCE, in the appropriately- named Final Day Of The Irish Flat Season Race, looks the best bet on today’s eight- race card in Naas.

On a afternoon when Colin Keane – on Breeders Cup duty in Keeneland – and apprentice Gavin Ryan will be crowned champions at the end of a unique, truncated season, the progressive, Ger O’leary- trained three- yearold has been lightly- raced this season but has been found a good opportunity to register his third win – over a course and distance which saw him triumph on his debut in April 2019.

The Lethal Force gelding has raced only three times this season, kicking off with a fourth to Art Power in the Group 3 Lacken Stakes at this venue on his seasonal bow.

He then chased home subsequent listed winner Keats in a conditions event in Killarney in mid- July, when subsequent Group 3 scorer Epona Plays filled third spot.

Real Force hasn’t been seen since picking up well to sweep past Aztec Parade i n a c onditions e vent at Tipperary in early August.

Matt Smith’s Flaming Moon, fourth to Saltonstall in the listed Glencairn Stakes here last week and dropping back to seven furlongs, looks the chief threat. But Real Force is a confident choice.

Dermot Weld, whose Breeders Cup Turf contender Tarnawa will now be ridden by Colin Keane, deputising for Covid- hit Christophe Soumillon, might take the featured Naas November Han d i c a p wi t h i mpro v i n g f i l l y Haparanda.

An Aga Khan- owned three- year- old filly, this daughter of Rock Of Gibraltar has come a long way since winning a lowly Killarney handicap, off 69, in mid- July.

Raised 14lb for her Killarney win, she f i nished a creditable third to Mighty Blue in a fillies handicap at the Curragh in August and then produced a c a r e e r b e s t e f f o r t t o l a n d a competitive Leopardstown handicap, beating solid yardstick Layfayette and Red Kelly.

Up another 10lb for that win, to a mark of 96, Haparanda i s facing a tougher task in this ultra- competitive af fair. But, an improving filly, with Dylan Browne Mcmonagle claiming a valuable 5lb, she should be in the firing line.

Versatile Politici se and Engli sh Cesarewitch t hird Takarengo are among the dangers to the Rosewell House filly.

CHIEF THREAT Flaming Moon, black & white silks, hopes to shoot down Real Force this afternoon