The intriguing newcomer. His 28.95 best time is the fastest in this race by a couple of lengths, earned racing A2 and A3 company at Shelbourne Park, and his third at this grade last week — just his second run at Mullingar — suggests he's acclimatising. The questions are real though: no wins or placings from two course runs, a kennel winning barely one in sixteen, and his last clocking was nearly a second off that headline figure. If the Shelbourne speed shows up here he wins; two runs isn't enough to say it will.

A four-time course-and-distance winner who arrived at this grade via back-to-back wins at A5 and A6 last month, rated 77 and 81 in the process. Her first try at A4 last week brought a quiet fifth, and that's the worry — combined with the slowest speed figure in the field and a last clocking nearly a second off her best, it suggests the grade may have found her ceiling. Eight of ten course runs in the frame keeps her respectable, and trap 3 is fine here. Needs the step up to click second time around.

Two wins from four course-and-distance starts is a fine strike rate, and her 84-rated win at this grade three starts back is the kind of figure that wins this race. But the two runs since brought a sixth and a fourth rated in the 40s and 60s, and now she draws trap 2, the worst box at this grade at one win in ten. Five career runs is a thin book to judge from — she could be anything from an improver to a one-hit wonder. The draw tilts the guess towards the harder road.

Has been shuffling around mid-division all summer — fifth and fourth at this grade in his last two, with ratings stuck in the 50s. His 29.25 best is respectable and he's faced decent company including A2 dogs earlier in the year, but three course-and-distance runs have produced nothing and trap 6 is a below-par box at this grade. Nothing in the recent book suggests he suddenly finds the three lengths this field demands.