A Piece Of Heaven winning at Dundalk© Photo Healy Racing
Barry Fitzgerald is already looking ahead to Royal Ascot with his promising stayer A Piece Of Heaven who has scored both on the turf and the all-weather.
The son of Jukebox Jury opened his account over 1m6f at Gowran Park last autumn and again successfully adopted front-running tactics when upped to two miles at Dundalk in December.
The six-year-old gelding is now rated 94 after readily defying topweight on the polytrack and may reappear in the next six weeks.
“He’s cantering away and we’ll probably give him a run on turf at the start of the season or the middle of April when the ground dries out a bit. I’m happy where he is at the moment.
“The Ascot Stakes is very much on my radar and there are plenty of Premier Handicaps we can look at after that.
“He’s lightly raced but has matured now,” said Fitzgerald who has a mixed team of about 20 horses at present.
More immediately the Carlow trainer will saddle Ballycallan King in a maiden hurdle at Thurles on Tuesday.
The Getaway gelding has filled the runner-up spot four times this season and Fitzgerald commented, "He’s been a solid enough horse all year.
"I'm going to try something different the next day and put blinkers on him. Hopefully he’ll come forward and will like the ground there.”
Additional reporting by Michael Graham
