West Acre

Friday, Dundalk, post time: 19:15, BAR ONE RACING MERCURY STAKES-G3, €36,000, 2yo/up, 5f (AWT) Field: West Acre (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), Black Forza (Complexiity), Fandom (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), Powerful Nation (Ire) (Sioux Nation), Spartan Arrow (Ire) (Sioux Nation), The Highway Rat (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), Grande Marques (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), Gutsy Girl (GB) (Blue Point {Ire}), Lady With The Lamp (Ire) (King Of Change {GB}), Queen Of Mougins (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}), Songhai (Ire) (Sands Of Mali {Fr}), Star Of Lady M (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), Town And Country (Ire) (Earthlight...

It's going to get a little confusing this year with all these painters coming to the fore. Even more confusingly, Henri Matisse (Ire) and Camille Pissarro (Ire) are both by Wootton Bassett (GB) out of mares by Pivotal (GB), and, unsuprisingly, they are no ordinary mares.  Immortal Verse (Ire), the dual Group 1 winner bought for 4.7 million gns as a five-year-old, had already produced the Group 1 and Group 2 winners Tenebrism (Caravaggio) and Statuette (Justify) before Henri Matisse came along and, from a hard-working and high-scoring juvenile campaign...

In the pantheon of propaganda, Tally-Ho Stud would hardly get a look in compared to its competitors, so when Tony O'Callaghan says "the vibes are good" about Lady Iman (Ire) (Starman {GB}) ahead of her debut in the two-year-old maiden at Dundalk on Friday, it can be taken as a major positive.  Lady Iman is a significant runner for O'Callaghan given she is the first representation of Tally-Ho Stud's first-season sire Starman in Ireland this year. She boasts a pretty smart pedigree, too, being a half-sister to West Acre (Ire),...