RACING:THERE OUGHT to be no Maybe after tomorrow's Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh about Aidan O'Brien's star being the top juvenile filly seen in Europe so far in 2011.
Maybe might be blandly named but an unbeaten four-out-of-four record so far indicates a glittering talent that can secure an appropriate Group One sheen tomorrow.
The €225,000 highlight is being billed as a rematch between Maybe and La Collina who already boasts a Group One victory when overhauling the colts to score a 33 to 1 shock in the Phoenix Stakes earlier this month.
On that same afternoon Maybe landed the traditional Moyglare trial, the Debutante Stakes, to cement the impression that the Irish two-year-old fillies are so far at least superior to their male rivals.
Maybe and La Collina had earlier clashed in July’s Silver Flash at Leopardstown when the Ballydoyle runner narrowly won when conceding 3lb while also leaving the undeniable impression she was operating at less than full power.
The overall impression she has already made, with an impressive maiden victory preceding putting the boys in their place herself in Royal Ascot’s Chesham Stakes, has been enough for bookmakers to already make her as low as 7 to 2 favourite for next year’s Guineas.
Aidan O’Brien is in pursuit of a sixth Moyglare win and will again present his son, Joseph, with the challenge of making the 9st weight. The teenager managed it in the Debutante but even a little overweight isn’t likely to stop Maybe from being an odds-on favourite.
Kevin Prendergast has tasted Moyglare success himself in recent years with Termagant and Miss Beatrix and La Collina is being upped to seven furlongs in an attempt to score a second top-flight victory in a month.
“She’s very well. The last time she met Maybe that filly had been to Ascot and had plenty of experience. Maybe is a February foal and La Collina is an April foal, so she had a couple of months on us, so we might make it up this time,” Prendergast said yesterday.
“We have beaten the winner of the Coventry (Power) so she’s entitled to be there or thereabouts. We think she has a fighting chance,” he added.
La Collina showed an impressive turn of foot to get the better of Power in the Phoenix but the O’Brien team should know exactly where they stand with her as they prepare their three-strong team.
Coolmore will also have David Wachman’s Fire Lily, runner-up in the Lowther at York, on their side while both Rubina and Teolane are back for another crack at Maybe having run behind her in the Debutante.
The opposition will be hoping Maybe’s precociousness might be starting to dim as the season progresses but the Ballydoyle filly is from the family of the Oaks winner Dancing Rain so it is just as likely she is still progressing.
If that is the case then Maybe should prove very hard to beat.
Natural High was one of the remarkable 17 winners Dermot Weld notched up at Galway’s summer festival but those prepared to row in with the Weld runner at Ballybrit again today could do worse than check out his rival Rebel Fitz.
The start of a three-day session at Galway sees Weld send Natural High for the novice hurdle and no doubt a wish that the horse doesn’t repeat the second last flight mistake that nearly cost him victory a month ago.
Rebel Fitz broke his own duck at Cork earlier in the month, a win that added to a pair of bumper successes. Davy Russell’s mount boasts a progressive looking profile which he can add to today.
Overall Willie Mullins rather than Weld looks the trainer to follow at Galway this weekend.
Scotsirish ran an honourable fifth to his stable companion Blazing Tempo in the Plate and although the two and three quarter miles of the conditions chase might be a little further than ideal his 156 rated class should help him win out.
