Leopardstown and Newmarket

only two flat meetings today in Britain and Ireland, with the better racing at Leopardstown, where the Group Three Ballycorus Stakes over 7 furlongs at 16.45 CET is the main event. Duff (Eddie Lynam/ Fran Berry) won this last year and may be able to double up; however he has to give weight to King Jock (Tracy Collins/ Pat Shanahan), who finished in front of him last time. That race was over a mile, but today´s distance is Duff´s best, so he is fancied to reverse the form. Of equal interest is the listed Saval Beg Stakes over 1 3/4 miles at 17.15. Connections hope that they have a successor to their champion stayer Yeats in Age of Aquarius (Aidan O´Brien/ Johnny Murtagh), in which case he should take this en route to the Ascot Gold Cup. However CD specialist Profound Beauty (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen), and easy CD handicap winner Haralan (John Oxx/ Fran Berry) will ensure that he has to show his best form to score. O´Brien - still very cagey about his plans for next week´s Der by - also unveils two of his more interesting juveniles in the 2yo maiden at 16.10 - Treasure Beach (Murtagh) and Rudolf Valentino (Seamus Heffernan), both extremely well-bred newcomers.

Two class 2 handicaps top the card at Newmarket. The 3yo race over 10 furlongs at 16.30 looks very hot, and we may be seeing some of these runners in much better events by the end of the season. Caldercruix (Topm Tate/ Jamie Spencer) is much improved, and has won both his 2010 starts in great style. However we prefer top-weight Monterosso (Mark Johnston / Frankie Dettori), who has already shown smart form and was last time runner-up to Green Moon, a listed winner here yesterday. The 6 furlongs race at 17.05 is for older horses and most of them are exposed, but it is still a very open race. The rain that fell yesterday should improve the chances of Angus Newz (Mick Quinn/ Franny Norton), who has 13 career wins to his credit but is now on a long losing run. However he has come down a lot in the weights as a result and may be able to hold off Noverre to Go (Tom Dascombe/ Richard Kingscote)and Shifting Star (Walter Swinburn/ Shane Kelly), both placed in similar events last time o ut. On the undercard, trainer Richard Hannon, still in red-hot form, and jockey Ryan Moore (likewise) can combine to land a double with Bunce in the 2yo maiden at 15.55 and Plume in the 3yo fillies handicap at 18.15.