RACING:IRISH GROUP race interest will stretch from England to France this afternoon but it will be Cape Blanco who tackles Grade One company at Belmont Park in New York tonight when he tries to pick up a third top-class American pot of the year.

Aidan O’Brien’s star lines up for the $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic over a mile and a half and has been installed an odds on morning line favourite to beat five others, including the ex-Dermot Weld-trained Winchester.

Jamie Spencer will again team up with last year’s Irish Derby hero, who already this season has picked up the Arlington Million and the Man O’War Stakes in the USA.

Before that Famous Name takes his chance in the Group Two Prix Dollar at Longchamp today under Pat Smullen, while Rose Bonheur heads an Irish team at Ascot when she lines up in the Bengough Stakes.

The star name on view at Gowran Park this afternoon will be Sizing Europe as the reigning two-mile champion has his first start of a new campaign in the Grade Two feature.

Henry De Bromhead’s star faces just four opponents, including last season’s Ryanair third Rubi Light. On ratings, though, Sizing Europe has plenty in hand.

Tipperary hosts a high-class mixed card tomorrow with Captain Cee Bee and The Real Article, the protagonists in a controversial race at the track during the summer, due to clash again in the Grade Two hurdle.

Captain Cee Bee had a luckless run in the Galway Hurdle and can come out on top again.

The flat feature is the Group Three Concorde Stakes where Anam Allta could be a solution if ground conditions don’t get too soft.

Any deterioration in going won’t help Steps To Freedom either in the Grade Three novice hurdle.

But Jessica Harrington’s dual-purpose horse could hardly have been more impressive on his jumping debut at Fairyhouse and is still one to watch.