RACING NEWS ROUND-UP:MOURAYAN GOES on trial for the Doncaster St Leger at Leopardstown this evening when he takes on older horses for the first time in the Group Three Ballyroan Stakes.
A total of seven runners line up and the international dimension to the €62,000 feature is added to by Profound Beauty who is currently a 14 to 1 favourite in some ante-post lists for November’s Melbourne Cup.
However, most focus tonight will be on Mourayan who is a 7 to 1 shot with Paddy Power for the Leger early next month and the John Oxx-trained runner is a stand-out on official figures.
Mourayan was hiked up to an official mark of 117 after his third to Fame And Glory in the Irish Derby last June and the Leger was immediately pencilled in as a major objective.
To get there, he will have to impress against some smart older horses. Profound Beauty drops back to a mile and a half after two wins at 14 furlongs while the 110-rated Shreyas goes up in distance after a narrow defeat of Fiery Lad last time.
Such horses will be a proper test of Mourayan’s Classic credentials but it will be disappointing if the Aga Khan-owned colt doesn’t earn his Doncaster ticket in style.
This evening’s seven-furlong maiden was won last year by no less a performer than Sea The Stars and the Oxx-Michael Kinane team this time unveil the Dalakhani colt, Behtarini.
The blue-blood of the race, however, is undoubtedly Henrythenavigator’s full-brother Benvenuto, who didn’t look happy on soft ground for his Cork debut and should strip considerably sharper for that experience.
Better ground and a flatter track can work the trick for Brushed Aside in the juvenile fillies maiden after getting beaten to the tune of nine lengths by Devoted To You at the Galway Festival.
The Juddmonte-owned filly was something of a Weld hotpot at Galway but she is bred to appreciate faster conditions than she got at Ballybrit and the undulating track there also didn’t appear to suit her.
Allegra Tak was a 50 to 1 shot when breaking her maiden at Naas but there will be no such odds available in this evening’s Leopardstown opener now that the Harry Rogers team are back in form.
She will be ridden in the fillies handicap by Shane Foley, who notched up a double at last week’s fixture at the Dublin track and it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that the apprentice can repeat the feat this time with the ride on Atlas Peak in the nine-furlong handicap to look forward to.
Dermot Weld’s Chinese White could bid for Group One glory in France later in the year after returning to winning ways at Gowran Park last night. A progressive filly last season, Lady O’Reilly’s charge was ninth in the Epsom Oaks before taking fourth in the Irish equivalent at the Curragh behind Moonstone.
She was having only the third start of her four-year-old campaign in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Hurry Harriet Stakes, but she could hardly have been more impressive. Pat Smullen’s mount, sent off the 15 to 8 favourite, readily picked up Roman Empress when asked to quicken. Weld said: “The Prix de l’Opera on Arc weekend is a possibility.”
