Saturday's Red Mills Cheveley Park Stakes is shaping into a potential championship deciding event and the unbeaten Come To Heel will fly the Irish flag at Newmarket against some of the best juvenile fillies in Europe.
Clive Brittain's Moyglare heroine Rizeena heads a five-day entry of 10 fillies that also includes Kiyoshi, demoted to third in the Moyglare by the Curragh stewards, the Lowther winner Lucky Kristale, and the top French hope Vorda, runner-up in the Prix Morny where she had Rizeena behind her. Frankel's half-sister, Joyeuse, is another Cheveley Park hope.
Come To Heel doesn’t boast the credentials of some of her potential weekend rivals but she won both her starts last month, at Cork and at the Curragh where she landed a Listed race in good style.
"The Cheveley Park is still the plan and she seems fine and we've been happy with her since the last day," trainer David Wachman said yesterday ahead of a potentially lucrative visit to Newmarket.
His star older mare Duntle is among 11 still left in Saturday's other Group One highlight, the Kingdom Of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes.
Duntle has yet to secure a Group One prize and her potential opposition in the Newmarket race includes old rivals Elusive Kate and Sky Lantern, as well as two other Irish hopefuls, Aidan O’Brien’s Say and Kevin Prendergast’s Matron Stakes victor, La Collina.
The Ballydoyle team have left Kingfisher, third to stable mate Australia on his last start, in Saturday's Royal Lodge Stakes, alongside Jim Bolger's unraced Fiscal Focus.
Aidan O'Brien has a team of four – Ruler Of The World, Leading Light, Camelot and Kingsbarns – to pick from in the upcoming Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the master French trainer Andre Fabre is in a similar situation ahead of an attempt on a remarkable eighth win in the Longchamp highlight.
"Flintshire will run if it is good ground, Pengali Pavilion will run too, with Ocovango we are watching the weather as he likes it softer, and of course Intello will run," Fabre said yesterday.
Ballinrobe
Willie Mullins sends a team of four horses to Ballinrobe today and although the former Galway Plate runner-up Themoonandsixpence will get plenty of attention in his first run in over three years, it could be Noble Inn that gets the meeting off to a good start for the champion trainer.
Themoonandsixpence returns to action in the conditions chase having been taken out, as a reserve, of last week's Kerry National. It will be fascinating to see how he fares having not raced since chasing home Finger Onthe Pulse in the 2010 Plate, but a more reliable betting proposition could be the novice Tom Horn.
Royal Moll won a bumper at Sligo last month in tough style and could be a type to make a winning debut over flights in the mares hurdle while Luimneach Abu can edge the first of the handicap hurdles.
In the Beginners Chase Dessie Hughe's Art Of Logistics has the profile of a potentially exciting steeplechase recruit.
