Zenyatta brother De Coronado can take forward step

Five handicaps of the type that are a staple of the Dundalk scene make today's sole Irish card particularly challenging. These races are typically contested by horses who regularly compete at the venue, not many of whom have the virtue of consistency. In the circumstances, a safer starting point may be the three conditions races.

There is solid course form to process in the rated 7f rated race (3.00), in which Aidan O'Brien supplies the potentially progressiveDe Coronado, who stepped up from an uninspiringCurragh debut over 1m4f in July to win a mile maiden on the Polytrack last month.

He made heavy enough weather of taking an ordinary race, and in that sense would possibly be viewed as no more than an average maiden winner. However, there remains a hope he can go on to the better things implied by his status as a brother to the brilliant Zenyatta and half-brother to the smart filly Balance, a three-time Grade 1 winner at Santa Anita.