May Bank Holiday with strong Curragh card

Today is a holiday in the U.K.and Ireland, which means lots of low-level racing. The exception to this is at the Curragh, which stages a strong card including two group races. The big attraction is So You Think (Aidan O´Brien/ Seamus Heffernan), who will almost certainly start at long odds-on for the Mooresbridge Stakes over 10 furlongs at 17.20 CET. He is one of the best horses ever to have run in Australia, where he won the Cox Plate twice and finished third under top weight in the Melbourne Cup. His sale before the latter race to Coolmore was greeted with outrage in Australia, where he was regarded as a national hero. He has been with O´Brien since the winter and today will be his first European race. On ratings he has 20 lbs in hand, having frightened off most of the opposition. The 4yo filly Termagant (Kevin Prendergast) gets quite a bit of weight and could follow him home, but it will be a shock if he is beaten.

The other group race is the Athasi Stakes for fillies and mares over 7 furlongs an hour earlier. Lolly for Dolly (Tommy Stack/ Wayne Lordan) has won both her 2011 starts in good style and also took this last year. She has an obvious chance but has to concede 15 lbs to the 3yo´s, which could be beyond her. The two we like best are Look at me (Aidan O´Brien/ Colm O`Donoghue), runner-up in a Newmarket Group Three in October and the Aga Khan´s Emiyna (John Oxx/ Johnny Murtagh). The latter won a small race at Dundalk last time and is taking a huge leap in class, but Oxx is a trainer who rarely mistakes his geese for swans, and she is our selection.

Oxx and O´Brien can also dominate the 7 furlongs event for 3yo´s at 15.50 where they have two runners apiece. Although this is only a listed race, the field is actually better than in both of the group races. The better of these stables´ runners should be Alexander Pope (O´Brien wth son Joseph in the saddle), a late withdrawal from the 2,000 Guineas, and Zabarayad (Oxx/ Murtagh), who has not been out since July. David Wachman´s Imperial Rome (Lordan) looks a big threat, while Glor Na Mara (Jim Bolger/ Kevin Manning) would be a near certainty on 2010 form. However he ran badly on his seasonal debut, but that may have been due to the very soft ground; today´s surface is much better.