Irish interest at the highest level will stretch from New York to Paris this weekend, with the 2004 Irish Derby winner Grey Swallow having his last race for Dermot Weld in tonight's $400,000 Manhattan Handicap at Belmont Park.
The double Group One winner will tackle eight opponents in the main support race to the Belmont Stakes, and will again be ridden by Alex Solis, who partnered Grey Swallow to victory in a Grade Two event at Hollywood Park last month.
Weld's horse is joint topweight, alongside English Channel, for the mile and a half race, which is likely to be run on relatively slow turf. Another opponent will be Relaxed Gesture, formally trained by Weld, who beat Grey Swallow in last year's Canadian International in Toronto.
But Weld's representative in New York, Robbie Dolan, is in confident form and told local reporters: "That race in Canada was at the end of a long, hard year and he still ran a cracker. With a bit of luck I think he'll get his revenge. This is more of a European track and he'll be more at home on it."
Afterwards Grey Swallow will switch to the care of New York trainer Richard Dutrow Jnr.
Irish eyes will then switch to Chantilly tomorrow for the French Oaks, the Prix de Diane Hermes, where Aidan O'Brien will try to follow up his English Oaks success with Alexandrova eight days ago when Queen Cleopatra lines up in a 16-strong field.
Kieren Fallon will be back on board the filly who he discarded in favour of Race For The Stars in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, where Queen Cleopatra did best of the Ballydoyle runners in third behind Nightime.
Paddy Power rate Queen Cleopatra a 6 to 1 chance behind the 7 to 2 Germance, who is one of four runners for the top local trainer Jean Claude Rouget.
Michael Kinane will ride the Aga Khan second-string Sanaya, with Christophe Soumillon having elected to ride the other Alain de Royer-Dupre runner Daltaya.
It's comparatively low-key stuff at home tomorrow, but Mahdi de Coeur looks an interesting contender for the two-mile handicap chase at Cork. Arthur Moore's horse is the most inexperienced chaser in the contest but fast ground will be ideal.
The John Bowles yard have returned to form and there will be no 20 to 1 about the chances of Craughwell Suas in the two-mile handicap hurdle after a third to After Midnight at Listowel last week.
Lough Gem put in an eye-catching return to form when runner-up to Zacharova at Naas last Monday, but if Ask Carol has better luck than when a slow starter at Tipperary on Tuesday, then the Murphy-trained horse will be hard to beat.
FRENCH OAKS (Paddy Power): 7-2 Germance, 5 Alloway, Daltaya, 6 Confidential Lady, Queen Cleopatra, 8 Sanaya, 12 Danzon, 16 Bar.
