Pedigree pointers and trainer quotes for opening puzzle of the Irish turf season

Eight juveniles will go to post for the opening race of the Irish turf season at Naas on Monday (2.00), the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden which is run over the minimum trip, and there are a few clues based on pedigree that may help solve the puzzle.

Three first-season sires will be represented by their first runners - Michael Mulvany saddles The Blue Panther, a colt by Buratino; Andy Slattery will send out the Prince Of Lir filly Boasting; while Brendan Duke, who trained the 2018 winner Pride Of Pimlico, has declared the Markaz filly Marketta.

Mulvany has a long association with the race having also trained Tough As Nails, a son of Dark Angel who was demoted to second in the stewards' room having finished first past the post in 2011.

Buratino, by Exceed And Excel, is a €5,000 option for breeders at Kildangan Stud and showed enough precocity and speed to break his maiden at Chelmsford in March of his two-year-old campaign, before downing Air Force Blue in the 2015 Coventry Stakes.

Prince Of Lir was also a Royal Ascot-winning juvenile with his victory in the 2016 Norfolk Stakes, 19 days after he made a winning debut at Beverley. The son of Kodiac is available to breeders at a €4,000 fee at Ballyhane Stud.

Completing the trio is Markaz, the Dark Angel full-brother to Group 1-winning sprinter Mecca's Angel who commands a €5,000 fee at Derrinstown Stud.

Despite his daughter Marketta costing her trainer a mere €1,000 at Tattersalls Ireland last September, there is more encouragement in the fact her dam Liscoa won a Killarney juvenile maiden on her debut in May 2004.

In stark contrast, the Aidan O'Brien-trained Lippizaner was a pricey purchase having fetched $625,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, when hammered down to agent Ben McElroy.

The Uncle Mo colt has a strong pedigree rooted in Australia as a half-brother to the Group 2 Silver Shadow Stakes scorer Omei Sword and son of the Thousand Guineas heroine Irish Lights.

Lippizaner is odds-on to score on debut and will be ridden by Seamie Heffernan for the Coolmore partners.

Jim Bolger - the winning trainer of this race each year from 2011 to 2013 - has two homebred runners in the line-up, with Poetic Flare a colt by the 2012 winner Dawn Approach, who was to develop into a top-class racehorse and is also the sire of last year's third Feminista.

Poetic Flare is out of the Rock Of Gibraltar mare Maria Lee, making him a three-parts brother to the classy filly Glamorous Approach.

Completing the seven-strong field are the Seamus Fahey-trained Red Jazz colt Jazz Dreamers and the Brian Nolan-trained Sir Prancealot filly Forever My Girl, whose dam What About Me was also trained by Nolan and won a Cork juvenile maiden in April 2009.

What the trainers say . . .

Aidan O'Brien, trainer of Lipizzaner

I think he's the first runner we've had by Uncle Mo and he seems to be a nice horse. He's just ready to start but hopefully he can run a nice race and the ground won't be too tough for him.

Mick Mulvany, trainer of The Blue Panther

He looks to be a nice horse and does everything right at home so we're hopeful for a good run.

Andrew Slattery, trainer of Boasting

She's a nice filly who has been going well at home and we're expecting a big run. I had been aiming her at a fillies' race at Dundalk but with the uncertainty over racing at the moment I wanted to get her out and racing. Ideally we'd love to have had another couple of weeks, but she seems in good form and we're hoping she can run very well.

Brendan Duke, trainer of Marketta

She's a really grand filly with a lovely temperament and is hard fit ahead of her first start. It's difficult to say whether she's good enough to win when you don't know the level of opposition you're taking on, but she knows her job and will love the soft ground. She's as genuine as gold and we're looking forward to seeing how she gets on.

Stuck in self isolation? Here's our guide to the best of bloodstock on YouTube