A 2019 flat campaign that will see the revamped Curragh open its doors in May gets under way at Naas on Sunday.
Top north of England-based trainer Richard Fahey sends three runners for the featured €100,000 Tote Irish Lincolnshire, and Crownthorpe could prove the solution to the first big handicap pot of the year.
Crownthorpe featured on this card a year ago when third in the Madrid Handicap, and subsequently won at Ripon to again prove his liking for cut in the ground. That’s on the agenda again this weekend where he races off 1lb lower in the ratings than he did in the Madrid.
Former British champion jockey Paul Hanagan is on another of Fahey’s, Calvados Spirit, but he and Society Red may not be as home as their stable companion on the conditions.
It could prove a significant year for classic winning rider Shane Foley who takes over as Jessica Harrington’s number one rider. He also maintains his links with Chinese owner Zhang Yuesheng. Both connections can pay off on Sunday, with the latter’s smart filly Yulong Gold Fairy having to concede weight all round in the Group Three Park Express Stakes but sure to like the easy ground.
Juvenile
Harrington’s Chicas Amigas won first time out as a juvenile, and could be a lively Madrid contender given she faces easy going for the first time in her career.
Aidan O’Brien’s one time highly-rated Derby hope Amedeo Modigliani has just his third ever start in the listed Devoy Stakes, and will be ridden by Ryan Moore for the first time.
The 2016 Irish Derby third Stellar Mass sets an official 106 standard, so Amedeo Modigliani’s reputation will have to prove substantial for his first run in almost 18 months.
Ruby Walsh gets a rare flat spin when he rides his father’s Castletownsend in a six furlong maiden, a race that could see the Aga Khan’s Baladiya emerge best.
