Richard Hannon has won the last five runnings of the £200,000 Tattersalls Breeders Stakes but his six in a row attempt could be foiled by a man who has never had a single winner at the Curragh.
Harry Rogers has made a significant impact as a trainer, combining some top handicap successes with an aggressive approach this year for a string of very decent two-year-olds.
Minashki has won twice from the Ardee, Co Louth, yard but the well-bred filly Beau Cheval can make the biggest imapact of all in a race that has attracted 14 cross-channel runners. Hannon runs Just A Carat but his main hope looks to be Partytime who ran seventh in the Newbury Super Sprint last time.
Nevertheless, despite Hannon's outstanding race record, the main British hope looks to be the Norfolk Stakes third Lord Merlin.
Mine Host, fourth to Seba after a rare trouble-free run in the Chesham at Ascot, is an other to consider while the best of the rest could be Jim Gorman's Bouoght Direct.
However, Beau Cheval impressed with a three-quarter length defeat of the highly regarded Toreador, third to Comfy at York on Tuesday, at Leopardstown and Rogers has proved he can get them ready when it counts.
The Group 2 Futurity looks set to follow a more routine pattern. Mark Johnston, successful with Bijou D'Inde (1995) and Jural (1994), sends over the highly-touted Leo's Luckyman, the Weld and Bolger yards are represented and Aidan O'Brien runs three smart colts to make up the field.
Mick Kinane has chosen the Railway Stakes runner up Hawk Wing but that should dissuade no one from siding with Monarchoftheglen, especially with the in form Seamus Heffernan on board.
The Ballydoyle understudy is on the 25 winner mark this season, just one short of a career equalling best total, and his sole winner at headquarters this term came when he made the most of Kinane's discard Imagine in the 1,000 Guineas.
That hasn't been the first time Kinane has got it wrong and Monarchoftheglen was palpably unsuited by the slow pace of Ascot's Chesham Stakes when fourth to Seba.
Kinane should be on the mark in the opener with Tesio.
Vinnie Roe is officially rated 4lb inferior to the other St Leger candidate Pugin in the Ballycullen Stakes but can put a lie to the figures while Cool Clarity is an intriguing Weld runner in the Belgrave Stakes.
Cool Clarity was foiled by soft ground when well fancied for the 1,000 Guineas but had earlier sluiced up from the subsequent classic winners Rose Gypsy and Imagine in the Athasi. The forecast "good" ground should be ideal for her and even a long lay-off should not stop her being competitive against the likes of Ishiguru and Bahamian Pirate.
