RACING: Aidan O'Brien's Group One tally could reach double figures for the season with Landseer a likely starter in Thursday's July Cup and Quarter Moon heading the team in Sunday's Irish Oaks.
Hawk Wing's Eclipse victory was an eighth top level success of the year for the Ballydoyle trainer who had a world record 23 Group One wins last season.
Yesterday O'Brien indicated that he will run two in the July Cup and as many as three in the Oaks, both races sponsored by Darley.
"Landseer is the most likely of ours to run at Newmarket and possibly one other will run in the July Cup too.
"Quarter Moon has been in good form since she was second at Epsom and she is a definite possible for the Curragh. Kournakova and Starbourne are possibles for the race too," said O'Brien.
He also indicated yesterday that Hawk Wing is more likely to run next in York's Juddmonte International rather than the King George at Ascot.
"They are the options but we will have to wait a week to see how he is before we decide. Nothing is definite but I suppose we would favour the Juddmonte at the moment," he said.
Today's scheduled fixture at Roscommon survived an inspection yesterday but the chances of it doing the same at 8.00 this morning are slim.
The track manager Michael Finneran said: "If we get what is forecast then we will be in trouble. The ground is heavy and it would be able to take very little rain. It would not be able to take a heavy shower and the forecast is not good." One man who will be hoping it does go ahead is Dermot Weld who was out of luck in the USA on Saturday night.
Saranac Lake finished a well-beaten 10th in the $500,000 American Oaks at Hollywood Park, a race that ended in the stewards room with Megahertz promoted to first in favour of Dublino.
Should Roscommon get the green light, there will be no starting stalls for the flat races and a maximum of 10 runners in the two seven furlong races.
Weld's Without Pretense goes in the maiden and although a 74 rating indicates he is no world-beater, this is a pretty weak race, with the Ballinrobe runner-up Bellflower maybe the best of the rest. In the two-year-old fillies maiden Encircle tries yet again to break her duck and there doesn't appear to be anything in this field of the calibre of Yesterday, who beat the Kevin Prendergast runner last time.
