Promising Aerclub puts unbeaten record on the line for De Bromhead

Love Your Mum At The Races Weekend Median Auction Race | 3yo | 1m | RTV

The most obvious starting point in an interesting affair is Henry de Bromhead's Aerclub, a decisive maiden scorer here on debut in November.

The son of Charm Spirit produced a visually convincing performance on that occasion and time has proven it was a considerable showing.

He held off the challenge of Joseph O'Brien's Dune Of Pilat, who showed the benefit of his debut experience when winning readily on his next two starts at this venue and Southwell.

That exciting three-year-old is now rated 92 and the sixth from Aerclub's victory, Moll returned to the same venue and beat four subsequent winners in a January maiden. The form looks strong.

Giving at least 5lb to all rivals here may not prove entirely straightforward for Aerclub but he is the most exciting runner in the six-strong field and could well step forward from his debut run, albeit he could be a little rusty on his first outing in 119 days.

Flower Garland (orange silks) looks to build on excellent runs at Dundalk on her two most recent startsCredit: Patrick McCann

Flower Garland, the filly who provided Donnacha O'Brien with a breakthrough success as a trainer here four weeks ago, looks the biggest threat to De Bromhead's runner.

These are undoubtedly deeper waters for the 79-rated daughter of Footstepsinthesand but she could be more streetwise than Aerclub, now having her eighth career start.

Gavin Cromwell's Point Reyes made it seventh time lucky when getting off the mark in a nursery off 70 here in November and now returns from a break, having failed to land a telling blow from behind on her last start 108 days ago. She needs to find improvement.

Line Judge, a pleasing third on debut here in January, is likely to come on a bundle for that effort and gets a handy pull at the weights so could be dangerous to overlook from a place perspective.

Fellow maiden Strip Light reportedly got upset in the parade ring before finishing down the field in a 29-runner Curragh maiden in August so it wouldn't be a surprise to see him perform better now gelded.

Analysis by Mark Boylan

What the stats say

Henry de Bromhead has three wins from 51 starts with three-year-olds on the all-weather over the last five years. However it is worth noting that his best performer in that sphere returned an RPR of 82, a figure already bettered by Aerclub when winning his sole start at two.

What connections say

Henry de Bromhead, trainer of Aerclub
He's in good form and working well so we're hoping for a nice run.

Donnacha O'Brien, trainer of Flower Garland
I think she is going the right way. She won well the last day and she is in good form. It's a more competitive race but we're hopeful she'll run well. It's early in the season and she's fit so I had a look at the Park Express Stakes and if there was going to be a small field, we might have looked at trying to get her some black type. But the chances are she won't run now.

Donnacha O'Brien hopes for more success with Flower Garland, who provided his maiden success as a trainerCredit: Patrick McCann

Gavin Cromwell, trainer of Point Reyes
She is back in off a break and seems in good order so we're hoping that she'll run a nice race. Off ratings I think she has a chance.

Joseph O'Brien, trainer of Line Judge
She ran well on her debut. This is a big step up in class and the top horse [Aerclub] looks like he'll be hard to beat but she is in good form. She seemed to finish out her race well at seven furlongs so we're hopeful she'll have no hassle with the mile.

Reporting by Scott Burton

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