CHARLES O'BRIEN will be relieved that the rain has arrived in time for Burden Of Proof in today's Group Three Gladness Stakes, an event owner Vincent O'Brien won with some fine horses, such as Nijinsky and El Gran Senor.
But for being curtailed by firm ground for much of the season, Burden Of Proof might have gone far as a three-year-old. Successful in the Group Three Beresford Stakes on soft ground as a two-year-old, he reappeared the following season in a slowly-run Tetrarch Stakes. He ran a good race on a yielding surface to finish fast, a head and a short head behind Desert Style and Nautical Pet, to both of whom he was conceding 6lb.
The ground had gone against him for the Irish 2,000 Guineas, in which he finished fourth. He did not run again until mid-September when he ran the consistent Wizard King to a length in a listed race over this course and distance. He wound up an unsatisfactory season with a victory in the listed Waterford Testimonial Stakes over six furlongs here. The going had at last come in hiss favour.
Nautical Pet represents Dermot Weld, who won this race with Careafolie in 1988. This consistent four-year-old can act on any ground, but under the conditions of the race is set to give 3lb to Burden Of Proof, both colts being rated 110.
Idris, who has had the benefit of two recent runs and did well to finish a close-up third under a big weight in the Irish Lincolnshire, will not mind the ground; and the John Oxx-trained Aylesbury looks the pick of the four three-year-olds. It is not easy to assess Sheikh Mohammed's colt, who having won by six lengths at Navan in October, took a Group Three at Leopardstown with no great show of authority from Errazuriz, who disappointed next time out over the same course. Aylesbury, a son of the promising young sire Lycius, could make into a good colt, but I am satisfied Burden Of Proof will take beating.
Christy Roche also rides the once-raced Truth Or Dare for Charles O'Brien in the Ballymany Maiden. The Royal Academy colt ran a promising race behind the subsequently disqualified Clear Blue Water at Leopardstown in October, and with High Plains Drifter a doubtful runner, may be good enough.
Ceirseach, a short head winner from Catch A Glimpse in a Tipperary maiden last August, failed to win in six subsequent outings. She did, however, run consistently well and wound up the season by finishing second behind the Aga Khan's Deynawari in a 17-runner listed race at Leopardstown, where Night Spell was an also-ran. Jim Bolger's charge is chosen to twin the EBF Fillies Race. With the advantage of two races, Beamingallover can initiate a double for Bolger in the Curragh Beag Maiden.
