BALLET ON THE STAGE

O’Brien’s charge looking good for National prize at Curragh

THE Aidan O’Brien-trained National Ballet is a hopeful choice to land the Paddy Power Irish Cesarewitch at the Curragh this afternoon.

A full field of 30 makes this prize a fairly difficult one for punters to solve especially with no standout candidate in the line up.

As a result a case could probably be made for two thirds of the runners but the nod falls to National Ballet who could yet have more to offer.

This three-year-old is a lightly raced sort with just five runs to his name so he is entitled to improve on what he has shown so far.

He looked a potentially nice stayer when landing a handicap at Limerick in July and that race has produced a few subsequent winners.

On his next start at Galway he ran a solid fourth in a useful handicap but he might just have found things happening too quickly at Ballybrit. The switch to this more galloping track over a much longer trip will aid his cause and he also has a light weight to aid his cause.

It’s not easy for a three-year-old but it might just be worth taking a chance on this son of Deep Impact who looks as though he has been aimed at this race.

On a reasonably interesting card Limiti De Greccio is taken to strike for Paddy Twomey in the Listed Staffordstown Stud Stakes.

This filly showed promise on her first two outings and has impressed since switching to Twomey’s care.

She looked good when winning a Leopardstown maiden in August and showed up well back at that track last month when chasing home Panama Red in a Listed race. Limiti De Greccio looks like a filly with more to offer and she can overcome the Group 1- placed Sunset Shiraz A repeat of her third in the Moyglare Stakes would make Sunset Shiraz hard to be beat but the step up to this trip is an unknown for her.

In the day’s other Listed event Teresa Mendoza can continue trainer Ken Condon’s strong finish to the season.

This talented filly has been running to a solid standard this season and wouldn’t need to improve much on her recent fourth in a Listed race at Ayr.

The opening two-year-old could fall to the Michael O’Callaghan-trained Tartan Skirt who shaped up nicely on her recent debut at Punchestown.

She does have to cope with a drop in trip but she can be expected to sharpen up for that first run and her yard’s juveniles tend to improve a lot for a run. In the sprint handicap the veteran Texas Rock makes plenty of appeal.