Dermot Weld's exciting colt Zawraq may have run only twice but he looks like being a major Derby player at Epsom in three weeks.
Meanwhile his stable companion Forgotten Rules can prove in Navan's Group Three weekend feature that seldom seen can still be much admired.
Forgotten Rules himself has run just three times in his career – the first a Punchestown bumper – but wound up landing the Long Distance Cup at Ascot on Champions Day last October in a style that makes him a clear favourite for next month's Ascot Gold Cup.
He returns to action in a Coolmore Vintage Crop Stakes that’s hardly a cushy warm-up on official figures, with the cross-channel raider Biographer, Answered, Panama Hat and the Irish Derby runner-up Kingfisher all entitled to fancy their chances of beating Forgotten Rules on ratings.
The Weld star would be hardly suited by any major drying out of the ground at Navan, but even allowing for all of that there will be a sense of disappointment if Forgotten Rules loses his unbeaten record.
Zawraq’s unbeaten record appears to be a contributory factor towards his hardening position as second-favourite for Epsom.
Possible target
Weld had dangled the idea of next weekend’s Irish Guineas as a possible target for Sheikh Hamdan’s colt, but the owner’s spokesman has now indicated Zawraq will go straight for the Derby.
"Dermot and Pat [Smullen] have always thought he was more of a Derby horse than a Guineas horse," said Angus Gold.
“We don’t know if he’s going to stay but most people don’t know until they try. Dermot and Pat have always thought he was a mile and a quarter horse and then it’s in the lap of the gods from there.”
The Weld-Smullen team unveil the Aga Khan’s Shinghari, who holds an Irish Guineas entry himself, in Navan’s finale on Sunday.
Half brother
Meanwhile, Forgotten Rules’s half brother Time To Inspire can make it a good half-hour for the family by thriving on a step up in trip in the mile and five maiden.
With Ruby Walsh on duty in Paris over the weekend, Paul Townend can keep the home fires burning successfully for the Willie Mullins team on board Daneking in Punchestown's Beginners Chase, while drying ground can also help his mount USA in the two-mile handicap chase.
