IT remains early days in the flat season proper, but some classic aspirants were out at Leopardstown last Sunday.

Zawraq undoubtedly advanced his claims with a ready success in the Listed 2000 Guineas Trial and posted a smart time (112 timefigure) to boot.

That is still a fair way short of the standard required to win at the top level at Newmarket or the Curragh in May, however.

John F Kennedy flunked his lines badly in the Group 3 Ballysax Stakes soon after, and there was nothing in the time or sectionals to suggest either colt who beat him is particularly out of the ordinary, either.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained colt may be more effective on a sounder surface (and when his stable is in better form), with his win at this track as a two-year-old coming in a smart time: don’t give up on him just yet.