Savethelastdance looks set to get a second bite at the classic cherry in Saturday’s Juddmonte Irish Oaks at the Curragh.
Aidan O’Brien’s filly started odds-on for last month’s Epsom equivalent on the back of a spectacular 22-length trial victory at Chester only to find Soul Sister too strong in the closing stages.
The latter upset the traditional pattern when lining up for last Friday’s Grand Prix De Paris and, with easy ground conditions predicted for HQ this weekend, it could be Savethelastdance that heads a powerful Ballydoyle team for the latest Curragh classic of 2023.
“Savethelastdance and Warm Heart and Be Happy are the one’s we are looking at,” O’Brien said on Monday.
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Be Happy hasn’t run since finishing runner-up in May’s Lingfield Oaks Trial but Warm Heart achieved a career best at Royal Ascot last time when successful in the Ribblesdale Stakes.
The complexion of Saturday’s €500,000 highlight will become more clear following Tuesday’s forfeit stage although Curragh officials are anticipating easy ground conditions to prevail.
The going on Monday was yielding and yielding to soft in places after 39mms of rainfall since Friday.
“The ground is on the soft side and there is a fair bit of rain forecast for tomorrow,” said Curragh chief executive Brian Kavanagh on Monday. “It’s supposed to get unsettled later in the week so it could go either way. I think there is definitely likely to be some cut in the ground.”
Home-trained fillies have won the Oaks for the last three years but one potential cross-channel contender could the big-race sponsor’s Bluestocking.
The Ralph Beckett-trained filly ran third to Warm Heart at Ascot last time while another potential starter is Dermot Weld’s Azazat, runner-up to Rosscarbery in last month’s Munster Oaks in Cork.
Aidan O’Brien also pointed to next month’s Prix Maurice de Gheest in Deauville as a potential target for last season’s European champion two-year-old Little Big Bear.
The son of No Nay Never finished last behind Shaquille in Saturday’s July Cup in Newmarket having met interference outside the furlong pole.
“We are looking at Deauville maybe at the moment,” O’Brien said. “He was just unlucky he got sandwiched just as Ryan [Moore] was going to release him.”
It is 22 years since O’Brien’s sole previous victory in Deauville’s 6½ furlong Group One prize. That was the Jamie Spencer-ridden King Charlemagne in 2001.
