Fran Berry flags up a couple of runners from Saturday's meeting at Cork as he reflects on the recent action with a view to finding future winners.
As a jockey Easter weekend was always just a little bit frustrating. You'd think everything was going to take off after the start of the Flat season but it goes down a level with the big Fairyhouse jumps meeting taking centre stage in Ireland.
There's plenty to look forward to at the Punchestown Festival as well but after that we can properly getting rolling on the level.
Over in Britain there's a quality card on Wednesday at Epsom and I'll be back to preview some of the highlights of Friday's card at Sandown, but in the meantime here are a couple more horses for the My Stable horse tracker following eyecatching runs in defeat away from the spotlight.
From the archive
Follow Fran's eyecatchers using our completely free tracker, My Stable...
Something Romantic
At Cork on Saturday there were a couple of beaten horse to note going forward, starting with Romantic Proposal, who was the one to take from the opening Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Maiden.
The daughter of Raven's Pass took a little while to warm but it was her first time out and she was posted a little wide in stall 10.
I felt the way she came home inside the final furlong to take third behind Georgeville was really encouraging with the future in mind, especially when you consider quite a few winners on the day were making all the running.
Edward Lynam's will always come forward for an initial outing, so while I don't know how good she'll be, she looks a surefire winner and won't mind the ground drying out again through the summer.
D'Or to find an opening
From the first race at Cork to the last and Coeur D'Or, fourth home in the Join Us Again Tomorrow Maiden.
Things definitely went wrong from the start as there were no stalls in operation and the flag start just saw him begin towards the outside and not in an ideal position.
Seamie Heffernan did a good job on the winner Gentile Bellini, slowing it down in front before kicking in the straight. It turned into a three-furlong sprint in truth and Dermot Weld's horse wasn't suited by it.
There was confidence in the market behind the son of Dubawi and he's definitely worth another chance to show his true running with this outing under the belt. He'll be hard to beat in another maiden, put it that way.
Watch Heather grow under Williams guidance
At a lower level, Heatherdown looks one to monitor for Ian Williams as he's just the type that his new trainer excels with.
He was having just his first run for Williams when third at Nottingham on Saturday evening and it was a promising run.
He was sent off 14/1 so not a huge amount was expected but he was eased close home after being squeezed for a bit of room late on. The horse is rated just 57 and won't be a star for the season, that's for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him rack up a bit of a sequence at some stage in the year.
This was a first go at a mile and a quarter and he appeared to be getting it well enough, while a mile and a half will probably be in his compass too moving forward.
Another one at Nottingham who shouldn't be forgotten is Making History, who was well backed first time out for Saeed bin Suroor. Five furlongs at Nottingham may not have been the ideal starting point for the son of Dubawi and he couldn't reel them in on the undulations after being a shade sluggish early on.
He was well found in the betting and probably went into plenty of notebooks but he's worth a mention at least.
