With a roll of honour that includes Vintage Crop in 1992, today's £30,000 Guinness Gold Cup qualifies as the highpoint of the Tralee festival and Quinze can make it especially so for punters.
Last year's winner is coming here off a career highlight in the Galway Hurdle when he made a highly competitive field look like cart-horses. That indicated that Pat Hughes's admirable six-year-old is still on the upgrade and if that is true, he will be hard to beat despite carrying 8.11.
Quinze arrived here last year on another roll and accounted for Bootlegger on route to a remarkable five victories in a row. The gelding won that day off a mark of 70 and races today off more than a stone higher.
That would be enough to put a line through most horse's chances but there doesn't seem to be a limit yet on his improvement and a possible greater worry is the ground, which yesterday was yielding. Quinze appreciates a sound surface but the runners yesterday seemed to be finishing well enough, so that shouldn't be an excuse.
The dangers are many and include the top-weight Twickenham, who ruined his chance at Leopardstown on Sunday by pulling, Sanaka who has a 5lb advantage over Twickenham for a length and a half at Galway, the Curragh winner River Pilot and the prolific Bob What.
With the exception of River Pilot, who will relish the going, most of them are tied in pretty well while Quinze still gives the impression of having something in reserve. He will probably have to tap into it today but it should be enough.
The juvenile hurdle here always presents a challenge and this time it could come down to a clash between Fable and Perugino Diamond. Both have Roscommon debut wins over Eagle Legal to their credit and Fable, along with the hurdling newcomer Silverware, has decent flat form. However Fable did make some mistakes in his first hurdle start and while Perugino Diamond wouldn't be in the same league on the level, he did impress with his technique in the West and is preferred.
The opening maiden is an intriguing contest with Adelphi Theatre representing Ballydoyle and Dashing D running for Dermot Weld, while Gateway looks on an improving curve.
My preference is for It Happens Now.
The Turf Club have explained an error which resulted in two races at Fairyhouse last Saturday being run short of their proper distance. The races were advertised as over six furlongs and in both cases "world records" were produced.
Yesterday, the Turf Club stated that the Inspector of Courses had since measured the track and discovered that the distance was short of that advertised.
