AN ULTRA-STRONG cross-sea challenge looks like lining up for Sunday’s big sprint at the Curragh, with Spin Cycle heading the raiding party for the Group Three Sapphire Stakes.
Nine of the 16 entries left in the five-furlong highlight are British-trained, and they include Kevin Ryan’s veteran Curragh specialist Benbaun.
However, there will also be plenty of interest in Spin Cycle, who finished close up in last week’s Kings Stand Stakes behind Equiano despite missing the break.
“It was unfortunate he missed the break,” his trainer, Bryan Smart, said. “He would have gone close. We will be hoping for a better jump from the stalls.
“He was left at Ascot, and then he ran on to get into the race but didn’t quite get home,” he added.
At Naas tonight, Aidan O’Brien and his son Joseph continue Emperor Claudius’s low-key start to 2010 when last week’s Fairyhouse scorer faces just two rivals in the finale.
The son of Giant’s Causeway and 1,000 Guineas heroine Virginia Waters is rated to win easily from Jembatt.
Wayne Lordan could be a jockey to follow with School Holidays in the three-year-old handicap and Tweedy in the six-furlong maiden after the Eddie Lynam-trained colt’s Fairyhouse debut behind Laldie.
