RACING NEWS:JOHN OXX is maintaining a wait-and-see policy with Arazan but the Curragh trainer hasn't given up hope of getting Irish racing's great enigma back into action before the season ends.
It is almost two years since the hugely talented contemporary of Sea The Stars has raced but while his former stable companion swept through an unbeaten 2009 campaign, Arazan, the colt once rated on a par with Sea The Stars as a classic prospect, has been confined to the sidelines.
Oxx had been preparing him for a four-year-old campaign this term but a chest infection problem that wrecked Arazan’s classic hopes in 2009 flared up again in the spring.
“He is back in work and building back up but there are no plans. He is a long way from a race,” the trainer said yesterday. “Whether we can get him back to the level he should be at remains to be seen. It’s hard to know. It’s a long time since he ran in the National Stakes (September 2008) but physically he is in great shape.”
Arazan, a half brother to Azamour, ran just three times as a two-year-old and landed the Group Two Futurity before finishing behind Mastercraftsman in the National Stakes.
Another Oxx-trained four-year-old, Roses For The Lady, will be aimed at the Irish St Leger in September following her effort in the Curragh Cup while Karasiyra, winner of a Listed race at Roscommon on Monday, could appear next in Cork’s Give Thanks Stakes.
Tomorrow’s feature at Tipperary is the Listed Danehill Dancer Tipperary Stakes and this five furlongs should be perfect for Dermot Weld’s Moonlit Garden against just five opponents.
A bad draw ruined her chance in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot and Moonlit Garden ran noticeably free in the early stages on her subsequent start over six furlongs at the Curragh.
Flash McGahon won tomorrow’s feature three years ago and he is back again for the five-furlong handicap off topweight.
The veteran ran fourth to Airspace at the Curragh last time when racing up the centre of the track and should be a major player this weekend.
His stable companion Edallora can reverse previous form with Dance On By in the concluding maiden while Master Of Hounds will probably be a short-priced favourite for the two-year-old maiden.
Tomorrow’s Sligo feature, the €20,500 novice hurdle, can fall to the Listowel winner Lend A Hand Son, who finished third on his subsequent appearance on the flat at Leopardstown.
