RACING NEWS:MASTERCRAFTSMAN is set to lead Aidan O'Brien's attempt on Saturday's Boylesports Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh as the champion trainer goes in pursuit of a sixth victory in Ireland's first classic of the season.
Europe’s champion two-year-old of 2008 ran fifth to Sea The Stars in the English Guineas on his only start to date in 2009 and will have ground to make up on the Brian Meehan-trained Delegator who finished runner-up at Newmarket.
Meehan has already described Delegator as “very likely” to take his chance at the Curragh but that isn’t stopping O’Brien from taking him on again.
“At the moment we are looking at Master, and maybe Grand Ducal and Malibu Bay. Those are the three we are thinking of but there is nothing definite yet,” the Ballydoyle trainer said yesterday.
“Master seems to be fine since Newmarket and he has won on all types of ground. It was fast when he won the Heinz and soft in the National Stakes,” he added.
Last year Henrythenavigator brought to an end a run of five British-trained winners of the Irish 2,000 but the British raid this time will also include the Richard Hannon-trained Soul City who is in pursuit of a lucrative double.
Last season’s Goffs Million winner is in line for €1 million bonus if successful on Saturday and Hannon has been impressed by recent gallops, including one with the older horses Paco Boy and Major Cadeaux last week.
“He is really starting to come to himself,” Hannon said yesterday. “We didn’t rush him in the spring as we made our minds up to miss the Newmarket 2,000 and wait for Ireland. Our patience is now paying off and we saw that in the gallop last Wednesday. All things being equal he will take his chance at the weekend.”
Hannon has twice won the Irish Guineas with Tirol (1990) and Don’t Forget Me (1987), both of whom were completing the Newmarket-Curragh double.
This year’s Newmarket hero Sea The Stars is being kept for the Derby but his trainer John Oxx could still be represented in the one Irish classic he has yet to win by Rayeni.
With Arazan ruled out due to a temperature, Rayeni is the most likely Oxx representative when the five-day forfeit stage takes place early this afternoon. The Aga Khan-owned colt won both his starts as a two-year-old including beating his stable companion Vitruvian Man in the Group Three Killavullan Stakes.
Jim Bolger has a number of Guineas options including the Dewhurst winner Intense Focus and Vocalised who was a disappointment in the French Guineas at Longchamp while Kevin Prendergast’s Recharge is on target to run.
O’Brien also confirmed yesterday that Thewayyouare, a Group One winning two-year-old when trained in France by Andre Fabre, will be his representative in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on Sunday.
Ground conditions at headquarters could be testing at the weekend with showers forecast for the Curragh for the next few days.
“It was no worse than soft up to today and we have been lucky compared to other parts of the country. But we have had rain today and the forecast is for some further rain showers on most of the early days of this week,” said the Curragh manager, Paul Hensey.
