RACING: Horses appearing at the Curragh on Sunday will have to change direction due to a one-off experiment that aims at improving safety at Irish racing's headquarters.
All runners appearing in the parade ring will now be led around in an anti-clockwise direction and will be mounted without stopping as the Turf Club look at ways to improve safety standards. On the opening day of the season last month the veteran trainer Con Collins was kicked in the leg when a horse lashed out in the parade ring at the Curragh.
Since then a similar incident occurred at Wolverhampton in Britain when Chris Kinane was left seriously injured when receiving a kick to the head as he legged Jamie Spencer up.
The incidents have highlighted concerns about there sometimes being too many people in parade rings and the Turf Club are introducing a number of measures on Sunday designed to improve matters. The most obvious example though will be the change in direction that the runners parade in before racing.
There will also be a purge on the numbers of people allowed into parade rings with children under the age of 14 not being left in before races. They can, however, enter afterwards under strict parental supervision if they are needed for photographs with the winner or placed horses.
The Turf Club also announced yesterday that there will be six of the practice races for young apprentices, which were recommended by the safety review group last year, in 2005 starting at Gowran Park on Sunday, May 15th.
Sunday's Curragh feature will be the Athasi Stakes where the race sponsor, John Oxx, intends to run both Hazariya and the Limerick winner Recite in the Group Three contest where potential rivals include the older mare Airwave.
John Magnier's 550,000 guineas purchase could have a first start for Aidan O'Brien having previously raced for Henry Candy in Britain.
However, there will be plenty of attention on the last race of the day, the mile maiden, where the Oxx newcomer Raydan is set to put his tall home reputation on the line.
The Aga Khan-owned Danehill colt is already a 33 to 1 shot for the Derby with both Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, but such Classic odds are a questionable matter for Oxx who landed last weekend's Guineas Trial with Alayan.
"I think some people have looked at some of his entries and jumped to conclusions. These entries are no more than speculative entries," the trainer said.
"Obviously he is a well bred colt, a nice looker, and his homework is good. But the only place that matters is the racecourse. You get a horse like Alayan who doesn't do much at home, but who is very tough on the track. That's what you want.
He also indicated that his double Group One winner Azamour is more likely to reappear in the Tattersalls Gold Cup on May 22nd instead of the Lockinge over a mile at Newbury.
"He is starting to step up in his work and is in great form," Oxx reported.
Solerina is napped in the qualified riders race at Tipperary today. She won here last year under Nina Carberry and the partnership can follow up. This is a potential warm up for the Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown in a fortnight and the James Bowe team report that Solerina has freshened up nicely for a break on the back of her first career fall at Navan in February.
