RACING:TOP LOCAL jockey Rene Douglas will be part of the Irish team appearing on Saturday night's Arlington Million card in Chicago after being booked by Dermot Weld to ride Winchester in the Grade One Secretariat Stakes.

Mount Nelson might be the Irish headliner in the Million itself, but there will also be plenty of interest in the Secretariat, a mile-and-a-quarter race on turf, which will feature both Winchester and Mount Nelson's stable companion Plan.

Plan will be attempting to follow in the footsteps of 2000 Secretariat winner Ciro, who won for Aidan O'Brien.

But the race has proved frustratingly elusive to Dermot Weld over the years.

Jazz Beat was beaten a nose by Chiselling six years ago, but the master of Rosewell House is keen for another crack at the race with Winchester, who was a disappointing seventh to Frozen Fire in the Irish Derby on his last start.

However, the colt does possess some smart form, including a defeat of the subsequent Irish Oaks winner Moonstone at Leopardstown earlier in the season.

"We're bringing him back to a mile-and-a-quarter, which is a trip that he beat Moonstone over," Weld said yesterday. "I think it is his right trip, so the plan is to run on Saturday night with Rene Douglas riding."

Panama-born Douglas has been leading jockey at Arlington on four occasions and numbers the Belmont Stakes and Breeders Cup among his successes.

John Murtagh will ride the O'Brien pair in Chicago, with Mount Nelson likely to face nine opponents in the Million, including former stable companion Archipenko, who is now trained by South African Mike De Kock, and Spirit One from France.

O'Brien landed the Million in 2005 with Powerscourt and a double this weekend would take his Group One tally for the year to 19.

Murtagh has already made his own mark at the Chicago track and landed the Grade One Beverly D Stakes a dozen years ago on the John Oxx-trained filly Timarida.

Today the in-form jockey is on duty at Gowran Park where he teams up with the regally bred Masterofthehorse in the mile juvenile maiden.

The Sadler's Wells colt ran Gan Amhras to three lengths on his debut at Naas, and there should be significant improvement for that effort. Gan Amhras' trainer, Jim Bolger, introduces Coolcullen Times, but the Ballydoyle juveniles almost invariably improve with racing.

Bolger should have better luck in the concluding nine-furlong maiden with Shreyas. This one ran into a potentially very smart filly in Unsung Heroine on her Fairyhouse debut and it was a long way back to the third.

Rock Moss is another leading Bolger candidate in the conditions race, but this 108-rated gelding has shown his best form at six furlongs rather than tonight's seven.

In contrast, Award Ceremony comes here having won over a stiff seven at Galway last week, and, although he has it all to do on figures, the Weld runner can outlast his rival.

Roscommon's all-jumps card sees Paul Carberry return to action after suffering a concussion at Killarney that ruled him out of the Galway festival.

The former champion is still top of the current season's standings with 26 winners, and he can add to that impressive tally twice more this evening.

Rocket Boy has Grand Revival to beat in the maiden hurdle, but The Fist Of God's flat form makes him a standout in the first juvenile hurdle of the season - if his jumping is up to par.

Keaveney returned to action after over two years off on this course recently and, significantly, Ruby Walsh takes the mount in the Beginners Chase.