Azamour on schedule for Curragh

Azamour could be yet another top performer to join a number of racing luminaries in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on May 22, according to trainer John Oxx.

With Bago, Doyen, North Light and Grey Swallow also possibles for the extended 10-furlong contest, the presence of Oxx’s Irish Champion Stakes winner could help make it the race of the season.

Surprisingly kept in training as a four-year-old by owner the Aga Khan, Azamour will be having his first start since finishing third in the Newmarket Champion Stakes last October.

Oxx reports the colt to be progressing nicely, but would not want the ground to be too testing.

The Kildare handler said: “Azamour is in in good form and is on course for the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

“The weather is a worry and there is no sign of improvement. I just hope it gets better.

“He is coming along nicely though and is a smashing big horse. He’s still above his racing weight, but his gallop at the Curragh yesterday should bring him on.

“After that we’ll probably go for the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot at York and then we’ll see.

“He is a top miler and the top horse over a mile and a quarter. He could also go over a mile and a half at some stage.”

Oxx also had news on his possible Vodafone Derby candidate Ehsan, who missed the Classic trial at Gowran last Sunday after it was abandoned and will wait for the rescheduled race at the track’s meeting on May 15.

“He is in the Dee Stakes but has had a small setback and won’t run this week. He’ll go for the Gowran trial in two weeks and it would not suprise me if he kept improving and made the grade,” he added.