Four of the top five in the betting hail from a seriously strong raiding team, led by Emily Upjohn – with John and Thady Gosden’s charge hoping for a change of luck on their travels to Ireland.
The daughter of Sea The Stars was a leading fancy for the 2022 Oaks at Irish racing’s HQ, only for travel complications resulting in her plane being cancelled and undoing her Classic hopes.
It has taken connections two years to get back to the Kildare track but Kieran Shoemark’s mount comes here with questions to answer on the back of an off-colour showing when sent off favourite in last month’s Coronation Cup at Epsom.
Gosden Snr was adamant she was “in need of the run” on her last start so improvement is expected as she returns to fillies-only company once again,
The Ralph Beckett-trained Bluestocking is edging favouritism, with the four-year-old coming here in fine fettle after a superb display when coasting to Group Two success at York last month.
Galway native Rossa Ryan takes the mount and he will be hoping his brief trip home will be a profitable one, while local boy David Egan returns to the scene of his memorable Irish Leger success last September.
Egan grew up a stone’s throw away in Newbridge and he has strong claims via the Hughie Morrison-trained Stay Alert, which had his form well franked at Royal Ascot earlier this month.
The five-year-old was a cosy winner from Running Lion last time out in a Newmarket Group Two, with the runner-up subsequently sluicing up at the Royal meeting – enhancing her claims significantly in the process.
Joseph O’Brien’s course and distance winner, Lumiere Rock, looks the best of the Irish hopes but this is a tasty renewal and Bluestocking will take some stopping under prodigal son Ryan.
US hall of fame jockey Johnny Velazquez, who was out of luck at Naas during the week, also continues his bid to win a race on Irish soil with three mounts today (Bernard Shaw 1.15, Charlisse 1.45 and Varner 2.20).
The legendary Puerto Rican has nearly 7,000 winners to his name but he is keen to add another notch to his belt on a ‘working holiday’ to Ireland, and Denis Cullen’s Charlisse looks his best hope in the Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes Handicap (1.45).
Similarly, there are not many prizes that have eluded Rachael Blackmore throughout her glittering career over jumps but she would dearly love to land the Kildare Village Ladies Derby Handicap (4.05) on the Flat.
It is a prize that has evaded the Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning rider as of yet but Joseph O’Brien’s Good Heavens should be in the frame, if not showing signs of ring rust.
The five-year-old hasn’t been seen in public since finishing midfield in a Listowel maiden hurdle last September but any market confidence behind the JP McManus runner should be heeded.
