Classic Dreams In The Balance On Sunday

Sunday sees a swing in the momentum towards the more meaningful Flat action of 2024, with Leopardstown–which has to survive an early-morning inspection–and ParisLongchamp staging a host of Classic trials. Ballydoyle's wheels are really set in motion at the former venue, with several of their promising 3-year-olds ready to be unleashed in the card's trio of preps including the 10-furlong G3 P.W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax S.

It is in that early Derby pointer that Rosegreen's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud third Illinois (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and impressive course maiden-winning TDN Rising Star Ocean Of Dreams (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) look to add to the stable's Blue Riband team taking on Vimal Khosla's G2 Beresford S. winner Deepone (GB) (Study Of Man {Ire}) from the Paddy Twomey stable.

“He has a five-pound penalty for his win in the Beresford S. last season, but we're looking forward to running him on Sunday,” Twomey said. “I think stepping up in trip will play to his strengths, I think a mile and a quarter to a mile and a half should be well within his compass.”

Leopardstown also stages the seven-furlong G3 Ballylinch Stud “Red Rocks” S., where Ballydoyle again have two fascinating maiden winners in Samuel Colt (Ire) (No Nay Never) and The Liffey (Ire) (No Nay Never). Both have to meet the standard set by the G3 Killavullan S. one-two Atlantic Coast (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Bright Stripes (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}).

The fillies take part in the G3 Ballylinch Stud “Priory Belle” S., where Ballydoyle's course-and-distance maiden winner Buttons (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) is the pick of Ryan Moore tackling Deepone's unbeaten stablemate A Lilac Rolla (Ire) (Harry Angel {Ire}).

It was in August at The Curragh when A Lilac Rolla managed to upstage the subsequent G1 Prix Marcel Boussac heroine Opera Singer (Justify) and Twomey is hoping that she can restart where she left off. “She beat a very good filly in Opera Singer, she's wintered well and is ready to start,” he said. “The ground conditions may not be ideal, but she's in a good place and this is a good starting point for the season ahead.”

At ParisLongchamp, Guy Pariente,Thomas Lines and Qatar Racing's G1 Criterium International hero Sunway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) returns in the nine-furlong G3 Prix la Force. Trainer David Menuisier said, “It is famous last words, but the ground shouldn't be an issue. It will be hard on the horses, but we feel ours goes on it quite good and the trip shouldn't be a problem, so we go there quite positive. Later down the line, we would like to aim at the Prix du Jockey Club, but we need to take races one by one, obviously. We could drop back in trip to run in one of the Guineas or we could go up in trip to run in a Derby trial next month. It will all depend on what happens this weekend and what Oisin and the owners think–and then we will take it from there.”

Also over that trio is the G3 Al Shira'aa Racing Prix Vanteaux for the fillies, where the Head Family's nine-length Saint-Cloud winner La Mandala (Fr) (City Light {Fr}) is tested against some proven peers, while the feature is the G2 Prix d'Harcourt where Ecurie Jean-Louis Bouchard's G1 Grand Prix de Paris hero Feed The Flame (GB) (Kingman {GB}) takes on Gousserie Racing's multiple group winner and G1 Champion S. third Horizon Dore (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}).

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Four Set For Sunday’s Grosser Preis Von Bayern

Sunday's G1 Grosser Allianz Preis von Bayern, Europe's final Group 1 contest of the season, has been reduced to a final field of four with Godolphin's likely favourite Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) having been withdrawn after final declarations were confirmed earlier in the week.

Andre Fabre trainee Junko (GB) (Intello {Ger}), a dual Group 3 winner who ran third in this term's G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, faces a domestic team of three in the 12-furlong Munich feature, headed by recent G1 Preis von Europa heroine India (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}). That Waldemar Hickst representative is joined by this term's dual Group 2-winning G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin third Assistent (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) and June's G3 Gran Premio di Milano winner Best Of Lips (Ire) (The Gurkha {Ire}).

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Chantilly: TDN Rising Star Ramatuelle Set For Robert Papin Test

So far, the dazzling TDN Rising Star Ramatuelle (Justify) has ruled the roost among the fillies of her native France and it is time to go up the ladder again in Sunday's six-furlong G2 Prix Robert Papin at Chantilly. Successful in her opening salvo and the G3 Prix du Bois by a cumulative margin of 9 1/2 lengths at this venue, Infinity Nine Horses' Christopher Head trainee was denied in between by fellow TDN Rising Star and Listed Prix Roland de Chambure winner Beauvatier (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) in Saint-Cloud's Prix Pirette conditions event.

She meets another colt of high standing here in Ballydoyle's His Majesty (Ire) (No Nay Never), who after winning the Curragh's Listed First Flier S. on debut has danced some of the big dances in Britain and Ireland. Whether his third in the G3 Marble Hill S. is good enough to trouble the filly remains to be seen, but he does seems the chief threat to her aside from the unexposed and unbeaten Classic Flower (GB) (Calyx {GB}) from the Patrice Cottier stable. She was impressive over five furlongs at Bordeaux-le-Bouscat in May and would provide her first-crop sire with a huge week if making the jump up.

In the G3 Prix Messidor, The Aga Khan's G2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein winner and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois third Erevann (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}) looks for a confidence boost, while the G3 Prix Chloe features last year's G3 Preis der Winterkonigin winner Quantanamera (Ger) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

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Can Tahiyra Make Amends For Guineas Eclipse?

Outbattled at Newmarket, The Aga Khan's Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) returns to The Curragh for what could prove ample compensation in Sunday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas. Unable to provide Dermot Weld with that elusive 1000 Guineas victory, the G1 Moyglare S.-winning TDN Rising Star bids to give her trainer a sixth of these. “She was a bit tired after the race, but she travelled home on the ferry and came home well and then she has picked up nicely and we've been pleased with her,” her trainer said. “It was a massive performance.”

Meditate Looks For Revenge

Well adrift of Tahiyra in the 1000 Guineas, it will be interesting to see if Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) can get closer than in the Moyglare when she trailed her by 2 1/4 lengths on contrasting ground. Her subsequent success in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf showed how deadly she can be when the surface rides fast and she would not be the first Ballydoyle representative to come from an unplaced effort at Newmarket and return to winning ways in a Curragh equivalent. “Meditate is very classy, has always been very good, and everything has gone very well with her since Newmarket,” O'Brien said. “She didn't have a real clear run through the whole winter into the spring.”

Out Of The Silence

If Tahiyra and Meditate take prominence here, then Moyglare Stud's homebred Eternal Silence (War Front) has a squeak given that she was still a maiden when third behind them in the race named after her owner-breeder's operation. From the Jessie Harrington stable which can do no wrong at present, the daughter of the G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Princess Highway (Street Cry {Ire}) has the scope to have progressed markedly in the interim. “It's been a frustrating Spring with Eternal Silence, as she was meant to run in a few maidens but due to going we didn't run her,” Kate Harrington explained. “She goes there in great form. She was a big filly last season and she's really filled her frame out over the winter. She was a good third in the Moyglare last year behind Tahiyra and Meditate, has had a few racecourse gallops and we got there hopeful of a big run.”

Bernick At The Double

Craig Bernick's colours will be carried by both the Fozzy Stack-trained Aspen Grove (Ire) (Justify) and You Send Me (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), with the latter in joint-ownership with Cayton Park Stud and Linda Shanahan. She was taking on the older horses and colts when second in the G3 Amethyst S. at Leopardstown earlier this month, so has had an unusual prep but is not far off the principals on ratings.

French Classic Winners Back At The Fore

In the card's G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, The Aga Khan's Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) looks to fend off Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) and Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) in what promises to be a blockbuster. Last year's G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G1 Eclipse S. hero has a run in the G1 Prix Ganay under his belt and unlike that race's third Bay Bridge may prefer this drier ground. “He has, in the past, liked this sort of fast-ish ground so he should be fine,” the owner-breeder's French racing and breeding manager Georges Rimaud said. “The horse is doing well, he has improved from his last race.” At Saint-Cloud, the G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Nassau S. heroine Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is back in the G2 Prix Corrida as she kickstarts a 4-year-old campaign that promises to be a bold one.

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