Heartbreak City© Photo Healy Racing
Willie Mullins and Dermot Weld will be the talk of the Galway Festival in July and the public have an early opportunity to see the pair of trainers in competition at Tipperary on Thursday where their respective runners Beau Mome and Stuccodor do battle in division two of the TipperaryRaces.ie Maiden Hurdle.
Mullins famously defeated Weld in the number of winners trained at last year's Galway Festival but ultimately lost out to the Ballybrit maestro on points and today's contest is also likely to be settled by their pair of geldings.
Both Beau Mome and Stuccodor are slightly frustrating types to follow and while Beau Mome won a French bumper on debut in 2014, in Ireland he has failed to win in five hurdle starts.
Irish Lincoln winner Stuccodor is a six times Flat winner, but has failed in eight hurdle attempts thus far. On ratings Stuccodor has a 1lb edge over Beau Mome.
The earlier division of the maiden hurdle sees another interesting Flat performer in action with the Tony Martin trained Heartbreak City bidding to continue his smart flat form.
The gelding bolted up from a mark of 88 in a Cork flat handicap in April and while down the field in the Chester Cup subsequently, competed from a rating of 103 than. He carries a winners' penalty today but is likely to prove too strong for his 17 rivals.
Most valuable contest on the mixed card is the five furlongs Follow Tipperary On Facebook Handicap where top weight Chiclet bids to complete a hat-trick of wins for trainer Tracey Collins.
