THE €15,000 mile handicap is the most valuable race at Dundalk tonight and, true to form, attracts the smallest field with just seven runners.
Plenty of course specialists are amongst them, however, including Banna Boirche, Akasaka and Maontri.
Akasaka is no stranger to Dundalk as he will be having his 23rd start at the track. A winner of six of those races, the seven-year-old ran a cracker here 10 days ago on his first start since switching to Donegal trainer Emmet Butterly and is likely to go well again.
Banna Boirche is a veteran of 19 runs at the track, winning eight times, so he has to be feared, while Maontri is a greenhorn by comparison, having won four out of just nine starts here.
Banna Boirche ran here three weeks ago when beaten just over a length-and-a-half by Misty Lane. A fair effort by the eight year-old, making his first appearance since running in Meydan last March.
He may prove too strong for Akasaka and bottom weight Equation Of Time.
There are two rated races on the card.
Almosthaditall and Havelock Ellis were both last-time-out winners here on the poly last month with the latter now poised for a hat-trick.
He is 13lb higher now for those two wins, but he might still be ahead of the handicapper and could beat another hat-trick contender in The Dancing Lord in this mile event.
Jim Bolger runs Sparanai in the 12-furlong rated race, but she will have to improve a good bit to prevent older rivals Minot Street and Sharjah getting the better of her.
Cebuano and Moonmeister should run well too.
Andy Oliver has the top and bottom weights in the nursery, with Whip Up A Storm topping the handicap after a couple of excellent runs here of late.
Chris Hayes partners Rest Assured for Paul Deegan and could turn around previous placings with Rest Assured.
However, Bolger's Family Pride, surely the best fancied of the trainer's runners tonight, looks the one to be on after his fourth here 10 days ago behind Dalewari.
Beaten less than a length, the front-running tactics seemed to suit last time when he showed plenty of dash.
He only gave way inside the final furlong and the drop back a furlong looks a major plus.
He is fancied to turn around form with Whip Up A Frenzy, who was just a short-head in front of him in third.
With nursery debutant Life With You and Aidan O'Brien's Along The Shore in opposition, this looks a tight contest though.
Last-time-out winners Alfaazya and Noverre Princess lock horns in the 47-65 seven-furlong handicap, while Tommy Stack's Carrie Bow Cay is the highest-rated in a moderate 10-and-a-half-furlong maiden, although Noble Duchess might be an interesting newcomer for Paul Flynn.
Andy Oliver and Harry de Bromhead are happy enough to run Tom Melbourne and Mister Royal respectively and rule them out of bumpers in a month's time.
DUAL champion jockey Davy Russell (right) and fellow rider Phillip Enright are set to miss some of the high-profile action over the festive period after both were suspended following a bizarre whip-related incident at Clonmel yesterday.
Russell was riding the Charles Byrnestrained 8/13 favourite Leave At Dawn in the Powerstown Handicap Hurdle, while Enright was aboard 33/1 shot Backinyourbox.
Russell dropped his whip after his mount made a bad mistake at the first and TV coverage showed him appearing to take Enright's stick before the runners jumped the second flight.
Both horses finished well down the field, with Leave At Dawn a disappointing eighth and Backinyourbox further back in 12th position.
The stewards found Russell and Enright in breach of Rule 272, which is related to bringing racing into disrepute, and were handed five-day suspensions. The riders will sit out the two racing days before Christmas, December 20 and 21, as well as the action from December 26-28.
Russell said: "I never set out to do this as it wasn't premeditated. "The suspension has come as a bit of a shock. I've nothing more to say and will have to digest it."