Roe in with Vinnie!
The six-year-old has clearly been laid out for this all season and Dermot Weld’s charge is the one they all have to beat.
A year ago, Vinnie Roe beat two smart horses in Gamut and Powerscourt and his most recent outing at Leopardstown last month should have left him spot on for this test.
Running over an inadequate mile and a half, the selection finished with a real flourish to fail by only a neck to reel in the 4lbs receiving Foreign Affairs.
Recent rain at headquarters will have taken the jar out of the surface and Vinnie Roe to outstay some smart rivals in the closing stages is the prediction.
Aidan O’Brien’s once-raced Virginia Waters is fancied to take the Loder EBF Fillies Race. Even though only finishing eighth of 11 behind well-backed stable companion, Cherokee, at the Curragh earlier in the month, the daughter of Kingmambo performed with plenty of promise and is likely to come on a bundle for the experience.
Babble On has a sporting chance, off bottom weight, in the ten furlongs Crown Prints Handicap. She looked to be very much on the upgrade when scoring by four lengths at Galway and is set to run another big race, despite a hike of 11lbs in the weights.
The Group One Dunnes Stores National Stakes at the Curragh tomorrow has a somewhat puzzling appearance. Godolphin supplemented Dubawi earlier in the week, following his hard-earned victory in a Group Three at Newmarket in July.
This yard is chockful of juvenile talent and Dubawi demands the utmost respect. But that Newmarket contest hasn’t worked out at all and it might pay to looks elsewhere for the likely winner.
Jim Bolger’s Democratic Deficit gets the nod. Time may well reveal he was attempting an impossible task when conceding Oratorio, who beat him two lengths, 4lbs in the Futurity Stakes at the Curragh.
Ballydoyle’s Ad Valorem, who created a big impression when landing his maiden in a canter at the Curragh, gets the nap to make a successful step up in class in the St Bernard Blenheim Stakes.
Ballydoyle also has prospects with Troubadour, a creditable second to Godolphin’s With Reason at Haydock, in the Ben Dunne Memorial Solonaway Stakes and with the Danehill newcomer, Albert Hall, in the Tinakill House Maiden.
At the opening stage of the Listowel Festival tomorrow, Hasik gets the vote in a trappy Kerry Spring Water Hurdle.
He enjoyed a good summer and seemed to handle testing conditions well enough when third to Liberman in a Tralee handicap last time.
