Ryan Moore makes his first appearance of the year in Ireland this weekend with a dozen rides for Aidan O'Brien between Leopardstown and Naas.
The top English jockey rode 23 winners from 77 rides here in 2016 – securing a prizemoney haul of over €2 million – and he will be anxious to team up again with the triple-Group One winner Alice Springs in Sunday’s Gladness Stakes at Naas.
Prior to that, Leopardstown has the thankless task of competing for attention with the Grand National and while it may be heresy to talk flat racing on the eve of the world’s most famous steeplechase, this is a fixture with a classic pedigree.
The subsequent duel-Derby hero Harzand and the Irish 1,000 winner Jet Setting won both of the card’s Group Three prizes a year ago and O’Brien is targeting them in strength.
The champion trainer pitches three colts into the PW McGrath Ballysax Stakes and two of them, Yucatan and Capri, are already 20/1 shots for Epsom Derby glory in June.
Capri edged out his stable companion in the Beresford Stakes last season and subsequently finished third in a Group One at Saint-Cloud. Yucatan went a place better when chasing home Rivet in the Racing Posts Trophy and Moore’s presence on his back will be a decisive indicator of the pecking order for many.
Waiting in the wings
“Yucatan’s done very well and because of that probably will improve a nice bit from the run. But he’s ready to start off,” said O’Brien, who has the dominant favourite for both the Derby and the 2,000 Guineas, Churchill, waiting in the wings.
The Ballydoyle trainer has four in the Ballylinch Stud 1,000 Guineas Trial in which Intricately, trained by his son Joseph, will have to concede a Group One penalty all round for her Moyglare success.
Hydrangea was runner-up in that Moyglare and to her stable companion Rhododendron in the Fillies Mile subsequently. That latter is a clear favourite for the 1,000 Guineas and the strength of O’Brien’s classic team is that Moore looks to be on the right one here in the Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Promise To Be True.
Whether Moore is on the right one in the Listed colts trial is an interesting quandary. Taj Mahal failed to live up to a sizable reputation as a two-year-old and looked far from straightforward at times.
In contrast, Orderofthegarter could hardly have been more impressive on his first start of this season when winning a Naas maiden by 11 lengths.
Top fillies
The rapidly changing nature of this early stage of the flat season was emphasised a year ago when Alice Springs finished well behind Jet Setting in the Leopardstown Trial before winding up one of the top fillies in Europe with wins in the Falmouth, the Matron and the Sun Chariot Stakes.
Alice Springs makes her first start of 2017 in the Gladness and she will be suited by drying ground conditions for the second of the Curragh’s Spring cards transferred to Naas.
If Alice Springs is the proven Group One article, then US Army Ranger begins his four-year-old career in the Group Three Alleged Stakes with plenty to prove.
The colt started to live up to his huge reputation with an admirable Derby second to Harzand at Epsom last season but his three subsequent starts hardly justified billing as any kind of superstar.
He has the size to make one suspect that time can help him but he faces no easy task against Success Days who was mixing it with Found and Fascinating Rock last year.
Moore could have better fortune elsewhere on the Naas card though including on the two year old Sioux Nation in the opener.
Leopardstown: 1.50- So You Thought 2.20- Orderofthegarter (Nap) 2.55- Promise To Be True 3.25- Room to Roam 4.00- Yucatan 4.35- Wild Shot 5.05- de Coronado
Nap and Double- Orderofthegarter & de Coronado
Naas: 1.55- Sioux Nation 2.25- Smoulder 2.55- Athas An Bhean 3.30- Alice Springs 4.05- Success Days 4.40- Ezanak 5.10- Diodorus
Tramore: 2.05- Little Folke 2.35- Torrent Des Mottes 3.10- Show And Go 3.45- Bellow Mome (Nap) 4.20- Stonehall Jack 4.50- Slemish 5.20- Classic Theatre
Nap and Double- Bellow Mome & Stonehall Jack
