CURRAGH MILLIONS:THE LAST flash of racing's Celtic Tiger tail takes place at the Curragh on Sunday when Ireland's richest day's racing of the year will have over €3.5 million in prizemoney on offer, focused primarily on the Goffs Millions races.
It will be the fourth and last year of the hugely lucrative promotion races organised by Goffs where purchases at the company’s select yearling sale race for a total of €3.2 million.
This season the format remains for two races but this time the contests are a sprint over six furlongs and a mile event. In 2007 and 2008, there were races for fillies and males while in 2006, the one Million event was landed by Miss Beatrix.
Overall, however, Goffs are calling time on these massive bonus races in a move that reflects the current economic crisis gripping the country.
“We decided in the current climate that the buyer base we have is more traditional and they are not really incentivised by these kinds of big jackpot races,” Goffs spokesperson Niamh O’Hehir said yesterday.
This weekend each race is worth €1.6 million and hopes are high for some home success after a Richard Hannon whitewash of last year’s races. The English trainer won the colts heat with Soul City and had a one-two in the fillies event with Minor Vamp and Baileys Cacao.
Hannon has two of the five British entries among the total of 22 possibles for Sunday’s sprint and could also be represented by Private Story in the Mile.
Mark Johnston’s €80,000 purchase Shakespearean, winner of the Group Three Solario at Sandown, is a highly-rated cross-channel raider in the Mile alongside John Gosden’s unbeaten Azmeel.
“We left Shakespearean in the Royal Lodge at Ascot on Saturday in case the Curragh had to be abandoned or something. But the Goffs Million is the plan,” Johnston confirmed yesterday.
Aidan O’Brien has four possibles for the Mile including the €300,000 purchase Cabaret, a Group Three winner earlier in the season, who is already prominent in early betting for next year’s Classics.
The Ballydoyle trainer also has the option of his Moyglare Stud Stakes runner-up Famous, a sister to Mastercraftsman, in the longer race while his three entries in the Sprint include the Phoenix Stakes runner-up Air Chief Marshal.
Tommy Stack is doubly represented in the six-furlong race by Gibraltar Blue and Walk On Bye, winner of the Anglesey Stakes, and third in the Phoenix.
The big money may be in the Goffs race but there will also be intense interest in Sunday’s Group Two highlight, the Juddmonte Beresford Stakes, which is a target for Ballydoyle’s highly-rated St Nicholas Abbey.
Sea The Stars won last year’s Beresford and St Nicholas Abbey is already towards the front of next year’s Epsom Derby betting.
“He is in good form and hasn’t had a hard time since his first run,” the colt’s trainer Aidan O’Brien said yesterday.
“He is a very good moving Montjeu so good ground should suit him.”
The going at the Curragh yesterday was good on the round course and good to yielding on the straight.
Significantly, however, the Godolphin team have supplemented Passion For Gold, a five-length Thirsk winner last month, into the Group Two at a cost of €11,500 while Jim Bolger has left his National Stakes runner-up, Chabal, among the 19 remaining in the Beresford.
A total of 23 entries remain in the Group Three CL Weld Park Stakes including another Godolphin representative Sweet Sonnet.
