Aidan O’Brien is in action at both the Curragh and Longchamp on Sunday but must do so without Ryan Moore’s services.
The rider is ruled out this weekend due a careless riding suspension picked up at Leopardstown earlier this month.
Moore has lodged an appeal against another two-day careless riding ban he received at Dundalk on Tuesday.
The Englishman was penalised for his ride on O’Brien’s winning two-year-old Brighter. An Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board spokesman said on Friday no date has yet been set to hear the appeal.
Wayne Lordan steps in for the spin on Point Lonsdale in Sunday’s Tote Alleged Stakes at the Curragh as the colt makes his first start since failing to fire in last year’s 2,000 Guineas.
He is up against last season’s Irish Derby runner-up Piz Badile and the veteran Lafayette who landed this race a year ago.
All of them are getting their 2023 campaigns under way and on testing ground that could prove important against Visualisation who has already got off the mark this season.
Sunday’s other Group Three at the Curragh is the Lester Piggott Gladness Stakes, a race with some of the great names of the sport on its roll of honour, and where Joseph O’Brien gives a first Irish start to his German recruit Goldana.
The filly landed a Listed race in Hanover by an impressive six lengths in her last start for Peter Schiegen in October and although dropping in trip she should relish the conditions.
The Ballydoyle team have been busy on the Paris circuit already this season and last year’s Breeders’ Cup hero Victoria Road returns to action in Sunday’s Group Three Prix De Fontainebleau at Longchamp.
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Victoria Road won half of his eight starts as a juvenile including races at both Chantilly and Deauville before going on to top-flight success in the Juvenile Turf at Keeneland in November.
O’Brien again turns to the Spanish rider Ioritz Mendizabal for Victoria Road who goes on trial for a tilt at next month’s French Guineas in a race due off at 2.50 Irish-time and live on Sky Sports.
Among his opposition is the Aga Khan’s unbeaten colt Rajapour.
Another O’Brien-trained son of Saxon Warrior, Londoner, takes his chance in the earlier Prix Noailles (1.33) over an extended 10 furlongs. Christophe Soumillon has been booked to ride.
Michael O’Sullivan has a first Aintree National spin on Carefully Selected and will be back for five booked rides at Tramore’s jumps fixture on Sunday including Hard Target in a handicap hurdle.
