The focus is on Ireland this week and we kick off with a couple of horses who are expected to really shine when racing resumes in 2020.
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Richard Mann - Heliac
Ger Lyons's training operation has been a major force in Irish racing for some time now but the 2019 Flat season might well have elevated him to the next level, confirming that his County Meath-based yard will be mixing it at the top table in Ireland and in Britain for years to come.
Mustajeer's victory in the £1million Sky Bet Ebor in August was reward for 12 months of planning; a campaign mapped out to the finest detail following his fourth-place finish in the race the previous year, and one which saw him return to York trained to the minute and cherry ripe for the big day.
That Mustajeer was able to land the most competitive handicap run in Britain last summer with relative ease demonstrated just what a fine job Lyons did with his horse, as was the case with stablemate Siskin who finished his juvenile season unbeaten in four starts and with a Group One victory to his name.
The success of the latter will ensure that owner Prince Khalid Abdullah continues to throw his support behind Lyons but they might already have another high-class operator on their hands in the shape of HELIAC.
Unlike Siskin, Heliac has always been a long-term project and following a couple of encouraging efforts at two, she broke her duck when making a winning reappearance at Cork last May.
Another victory, this time at Roscommon, maintained the softly-softly approach before the gun was finally put to Heliac's head when she was sent off favourite for a warm handicap at Leopardstown in August. Despite running with credit, she looked a long way from the finished article when having to settle for place money and defeat from a handicap mark of 85 had seemingly dashed any hopes connections had of picking up some black type with their filly in the future.
However, when Lyons brought Heliac back for another run in October, he clearly hadn't lost any faith and though faced with her toughest test to date, she took a significant step forward to tenaciously land a valuable pot at Dundalk from a host of more experienced rivals.
As Lyons was quick to point out after the race, Heliac's best days should still be ahead of her: "...you can see the way we protected her. She's going to mature over the winter, she's still a bit weak so the future is bright for her. I'd like to think she'll grow into a nice stakes filly next year."
Indeed, Heliac's pedigree certainly suggests Lyons has made the right call in eyeing the future with a filly whose sire, Champs Elysees, has been responsible for a number of fine older stayers in the last few years, ones that have tended to improve with time and racing.
As well as boasting a smart pedigree, Heliac has been blessed with a terrific attitude while the manner in which she responded for pressure to hit the line hard at Dundalk suggests a mile and a half should be well within her compass at some stage this term.
Whether that comes in a handicap from an attractive-looking mark of 91 remains to be seen, but picking up some black type will be Heliac's main priority before her sights could be raised even higher.
With so much potential and under Lyons' tutelage, I'll be betting that Heliac enjoys a fruitful four-year-old campaign.
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