What gives the debut genuine interest is where it is coming from. Andrew Slattery's yard in Thurles, Co Tipperary, has been in outstanding form this season, sending out 62 winners — that is the kind of number that tells you a stable is firing on all cylinders. Trainers in that kind of form tend not to travel a first-time runner without confidence, and that context matters when there is no race record to lean on.
At two years old, Star Above Me is at the very beginning of what could be a long career. Everything about today is a question mark — but it is a question mark surrounded by reasons to be optimistic.