Youmzain takes Tattersalls test

Mick Channon’s exciting four-year-old Youmzain is set to run in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on Sunday.

The Sinndar colt arrived on the scene when beating Red Rocks in the Great Voltigeur Stakes last year before chasing home subsequent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero Rail Link at Longchamp.

He later scored in Group One company in Germany before reappearing in Dubai with a highly-encouraging third in the valuable Sheema Classic.

“We’re planning to run Youmzain on Sunday in the Curragh race,” confirmed Bruce Raymond, racing manager to owner Jaber Abdullah.

“Everything’s gone to plan since Dubai and this race has been picked out for him for a while as Jaber was very keen to run.

“It was a very good run last time and we’re hoping the ground in Ireland will be right for him. I think he goes on most ground but easy ground suits him best.”

Youmzain also holds an entry in the Vodafone Coronation Cup on Friday week but would be unlikely to turn out so soon after this weekend’s race.

However, connections hope he will prove up to mixing it with the best in some of this season’s premier prizes.

“It’s unlikely he’d run in the Coronation Cup as well, but you can’t say it’s out of the question as we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Raymond continued.

“It would be nice to think that he might be able to go for the Arc but we’ll take it one step at a time and we’ll see how he goes in this race.”