County Tipperary trainer Miguel Gunn is keen to see what his two-year-olds Bilboa Lane and Spittal Field can do when they hit the track for the first time at tonight's Dundalk meeting.

Bilboa Lane is a well-related son of Excelebration but is likely to be a huge price for the Christmas Party Nights At Dundalk Stadium Race.

Gary Halpin's mount will face a couple of winners among his 12 rivals, including the Group Three-placed Theobald

An hour later Spittal Field will have the assistance of apprentice of the moment Ben Coen in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden.

Gunn has sampled success in point-to-points, but is in search of a breakthrough on the racecourse proper.

He explained: "They need to run at this stage and they're two nice horses. I couldn't fault them and it'll just be good to get a run into them this side of Christmas. They should only improve from it.

"We've only a small yard here and they'll learn more at the races than they would in two months at home."

The Gunn name has been in the training ranks for quite some time and the Kilvemnon operator reflected: "My father held a licence too - he was M C and I'm M A."

He added: "The owner of these two is Stan Murphy - champion amateur rider from years gone by. If I'm not mistaken, himself and Tony Martin shared the title one time.

"Stan is in Fethard, just in the road from me.

"We ran a bumper horse (In With Conor) at Thurles on Sunday and he went OK. The winner (Rhinestone) is a good horse.

"We were on a fact-finding mission with our fella. We wanted to see if he'd handle the ground and if he'd stay.

"He ran very well to a point, but the ground didn't suit him. He's a half-brother to three winners and they all won over seven furlongs on summer ground.

"He's a nice little horse for when the ground firms up a bit."