RACING NEWS: John Murtagh will tackle the Ballydoyle battalion in Sunday's Independent Wedgwood Phoenix Stakes on the English runner Tacitus.
The former champion jockey has never won the Group One pot before but he will team up with the July Stakes runner-up to try and plug that gap.
The Royal Ascot Racing Club have also booked Murtagh for the ride on Bijoux in the Group Three Robert Griffin Debutante Stakes.
Both horses are trained by Richard Hannon who won the big race with Pips Pride 10 years ago.
The ground at the Curragh yesterday was "yielding to soft" with the track authorities predicting going on the slow side of good for the weekend.
That would rule out any Godolphin representation on the card. The Derby seventh Naheef (Royal Whip Stakes) and Three Points (Phoenix Sprint) are entered but the conditions look like being unsuitable.
"We are looking for fastish ground for both of them and it looks as if it will be too soft. It's not definite but it does look unlikely. Three Points is in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville as well but it looks like being too soft there as well," said Godolphin's Simon Crisford.
Aidan O'Brien has yet to decide who he will run in the Phoenix Stakes but despite that, he was backed yesterday to win with one of his 10 entries.
Cashmans now go 2 to 5 about the O'Brien stable winning for the fifth time in a row and as a result both Tacitus and Revenue have drifted to7 to 1.
The going at Sligo today is forecast to be "heavy" but that won't bother 16-year-old Niall Madden who could double his career winner total. The son of Niall "Boots" Madden has won twice on Teknash this summer but looked unlucky not to add to that with Sheer Martina at Galway.
The mare was hampered in her run out of the dip in the race won by Penny Farthing and ultimately did well to get within two lengths of the winner. Madden also rides Pelican Brief in the bumper and this one's third to Jenniferjo in the mud at Gowran during the winter indicates the ground will not be a problem.
Peace Leader got edged out by White Queen at Roscommon on Tuesday and could suffer the same fate in the mile and a half handicap with the Galway runner-up Dr Knock. If Niamh's Leader overcomes a tendency to start slowly, then the second maiden hurdle should be there for the taking.
