RACING NEWS:JOHNNY MURTAGH will be hoping Jan Vermeer can put a Group One smile back on his face in Paris tomorrow after the champion jockey yesterday ruled out an appeal against the six-day ban that means he misses both the King George and Sussex Stakes.
Murtagh picked up the suspension in Newmarket on Friday after making a dramatic move across the field to the far rail in the early stages of the July Cup he won on Starspangledbanner.
Now, coveted rides on Cape Blanco in the King George VI Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Rip Van Winkle’s title defence in the Sussex are now up for grabs.
Kieren Fallon, the former number one jockey at Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle powerhouse, has already been the subject of speculation he might step in for some high-profile rides on Coolmore horses in Murtagh’s absence.
However, O’Brien has also regularly used home riders such as Séamus Heffernan and Colm O’Donoghue this season.
Fallon was on board Scorpion when that horse won the 2005 Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris and O’Brien will be hoping for another win in tomorrow evening’s Bastille Day feature at Longchamp when Jan Vermeer takes on eight opponents in the €600,000 highlight.
The mile-and-a-half event starts at 7.20pm on France’s national holiday and looks to provide Jan Vermeer with a good opportunity of improving on a third to Cape Blanco in the Irish Derby. Before that he was a beaten favourite behind Workforce at Epsom.
Andre Fabre has won the Grand Prix de Paris 10 times already and has two hopefuls lined up for tomorrow, Lawspeaker and the supplemented Group Three winner Goldwaki.
The main French hope, however, looks to be Planteur, runner up to Fabre’s Lope De Vega in the French Derby, while the Aga Khan has the Prix du Jockey Club fourth, Behkabad.
Saturday’s Curragh feature will be the Group 3 Tote Minstrel Stakes for which 20 entries remained after yesterday’s forfeit stage. They include Jim Bolger’s Irish Guineas runner-up Free Judgement and Aidan O’Brien’s Dewhurst winner Beethoven.
The 2009 Pierse Hurdle hero Penny’s Bill has just his fourth start over fences in this evening’s novice chase at Killarney but a good performance could earn him a place in the Galway Plate at the end of the month.
High Talk won easily at Downpatrick in May and can make a successful return to the northern track in this afternoon’s handicap hurdle.
