Ballydoyle number two jockey, Seamie Heffernan, has admitted he cannot contain his excitement ahead of riding record-breaking super stayer Yeats in the Irish Field St Leger at the Curragh on Saturday.
With Johnny Murtagh engaged to ride the likes of Viscount Nelson and Changingoftheguard at Doncaster, Heffernan has been handed the opportunity to get his leg up on the four-time Gold Cup winning hero.
After winning this race in 2007, following defeats in 2005 and 2006, Yeats will be looking to reward Heffernan with his second victory in the race in two years, after he won it aboard Septimus in 2008.
"He seems to be going OK. The lads who ride him at home are happy enough with him and he's doing his work all right," Heffernan said.
"He has loads of ability still.
"I've won on him three times and got beaten on him once from four rides, so I've got a pretty good record.
"He seems to be in good form and Aidan's happy enough for him to take his chance and I'm delighted to be riding him.
"I'm sure there's going to be plenty of people at the Curragh tomorrow coming especially to see him and I hope he doesn't let them down."
Meanwhile, Profound Beauty will be in opposition and the Melbourne Cup fancy has has won all her three starts this season. Dermot Weld's five-year-old bids to emulate Kastoria, who was the last mare to win the race in 2006.
"She has done everything right this year and I'm looking forward to tomorrow," her rider Pat Smullen explained.
"She beat Mourayan easily last time. She's a good mare who's improving all the time from run to run. That last run was very good.
"Alandi is an improving horse, too, and I'd say he's improved since we took him on at the Curragh.
"He's a big strong horse that handles very soft ground well. Schiaparelli stays and likes soft ground.
"Yeats' record speaks for itself, but our filly is in very good form.
"We're pleased with her, but the only concern for me is that the ground is in the process of drying out and that is when it's at its worst."
Irish Field St Leger: Head of the market (Ladbrokes)
Yeats 9/4
Alandi 5/2
Schiaparelli 10/3
Profound Beauty 4/1
