Johnny Ward: My tips for Classic Trials day at Leopardstown

The Flat is very much back and we have a lovely card to peruse at Leopardstown on Saturday.

I have long had a fondness for this early-season Classic trials card. The first time I was in Foxrock for this meet was back in 2004, when Yeats cemented his status as Derby favourite by winning the Ballysax by ten lengths. I cannot remember what happened that he never went to Epsom. Last month, his son Flooring Porter hacked up in the Stayers Hurdle.

Unusually here, I found the handicaps quite avoidable but there's a nice each-way trixie elsewhere.

2.00 Leopardstown: Point Gellibrand

Point Gellibrand has a smashing pedigree, being the fourth foal of a dam who has produced three individual winners, two of them Group-class. He's very much bred to be a three-year-old so the fact he was just touched off on debut when desperately unlucky last summer was remarkable.

That was a bunch finish but the third, Shark Bay, was just touched off again at the Curragh next time. It was quite striking that Joseph O'Brien pitched him into a Group 2 next time and he ran pretty well given his inexperience.

He looks really hard to oppose here in a race in which Aidan O'Brien unveils Samuel Pepys, a Galileo-bred son of Tiggy Wiggy.

3.10 Leopardstown: Homeless Songs

A Frankel out of a Dubawi mare, she's unsurprisingly good. Perhaps she can be very good this year. "She could be very talented," Dermot Weld said after her debut.

A shade disappointing in the Moyglare, she was very well-backed to beat Glounthane here in October. She was caught a bit out of her ground in a messy race, with the first three pretty much always up front.

I can easily see her improving beyond Glounthaune now. It will be interesting to see if she is beaten by Sacred Bridge, whose rider, Colin Keane, is controversially no longer used by Dermot Weld.

3.45 Leopardstown: Swan Bay

It's surely really telling that Swan Bay was a 15-8 chance despite taking on Luxembourg in the Beresford. He ended up being a shade disappointing but it was far from a bad run and he's suddenly a 10-1 chance here despite having no Luxembourg to worry about.

Stablemate Buckaroo is greatly feared but Swan Bay remains very promising on his Galway maiden route in September. By Australia out of a Danehill Dancer mare, he's surely going to improve at three.