The Irish Flat Racing season gets underway in earnest this Sunday at The Curragh with the annual curtain raiser to the Turf season with the Irish Lincolnshire.
There are 22 horses entered at the first entry stage for the €100,000 contest with the weights being headed by the Aidan O’Brien trained Alfonso De Sousa and that is his sole runner in the race.
Other leading trainers also have several entries with Dermot Weld holding two contenders with Stuccodor and Defining Year while Harry Rogers has two in the race. British based trainers, Kevin Ryan and Richard Fahey both have one entry each while Mick Halford returns Regulation from Dubai to contest the race; ‘’ Regulation would not want much more rain but the plan is to run him on Sunday. He enjoyed his stint in Dubai and is as fit as a fiddle which will stand him in good stead.”
Johnny Murtagh, who recently retired from race riding to concentrate on his training career, won the race last year with Sweet Lightning and he has We’ll Go Walking engaged and he said; “They all worked very well and We’ll Go Walking will take her chance in the Irish Lincolnshire. The mile trip may be a bit short for her but she is very well and ready for a run. She is a robust filly and should handle the ground.”
The Group 3 Park Express Stake is the other big race on the day and Murtagh is aiming to run big money purchase, Purr Along, for the Qatar Racing Syndicate and commented on her; ‘’She is a lovely filly and there is a good chance that she will take her chance on Sunday as it is a Group Three race and is restricted to fillies. We will make our mind up nearer the time, but she would not run if the ground happened to come up heavy.”
English trainer Karl Burke is another possible raider at the Kildare track on Sunday with Odeliz among the 20 horses entered earlier this week.
Epsom Oaks possible Marvellous for the Ballydoyle, currently favourite at 7.0 on the BETDAQ Exchanges, is also a possible for the race having won a Maiden at Navan last October. This year’s Epsom Oaks will be run in memory of Sir Henry Cecil.
The opening race at The Curragh is a Maiden for two year olds, a race that Jim Bolger has won for the past three years with Dawn Approach, Whip Rule and Saburo. Bolger holds two of the 11 entries in the race where there are, surprisingly, no entries for Aidan O’Brien.
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