Central goes on trial

Grand Central, the subject of strong ante-post Classic support in recent weeks, puts his credentials on the line in the Leopardstown 2000 Guineas Trial on Sunday.

The once-raced Aidan O’Brien-trained colt is as low as 9-1 second-favourite for the Newmarket showpiece on April 30 with totesport.

He was an emphatic winner of a seven-furlong maiden at this track in October under Jamie Spencer, although he will have the assistance of Kieren Fallon for the first time at the weekend.

The regally-bred son of Sadler’s Wells faces just three rivals – John Oxx’s Alayan, Dermot Weld’s Gaff and the Charles O’Brien-trained Forecourt.

Fallon gets the leg up earlier in the card on O’Brien’s Virginia Waters, who does not carry quite so high a profile and does not appear to be one of the Ballydoyle big guns.

She faces five opponents in the Dimitrova 1000 Guineas Trial, including Oxx’s Sweet Treat, an easy winner of a Cork maiden last month.

Fallon also rides Almighty, a half-brother to Arc winner Sagamix, for O’Brien in the PW McGrath Memorial Ballysax Stakes.