two Group One races at the Curragh

while there are inexplicably 3 N.H. meetings in the U.K. today and no flat racing at all, we have a hiugh class Card at the Cutrragh, where the Irish 1,000 Guineas will be run at 16.55 CET and the Tattersalls Gold Cup, also a Group One, at 16.20. The British took the lions share of prize-money yesterday and there are 2 strong candidates in the Guineas, Lightning Thunder (Olly Stevens/ Harry Bentley) and At Thakira (Marco Botti/ Richard Hughes). The former had the better form, having been runner-up in the Newmarket version, but that was on firmish ground, and on this much more testing going we would not be surprised to see the Botti contender do better. However the local defense is very strong, with Aidan O´Brien saddling 3 runners and Dermot Weld two. John Oxx´ My Titania, who would have been favourite, has been scratched because of the ground. One assumes that Joseph has the pick of his father´s runners, so Palace could be the best of the O´Brien trio, but we prefer the Weld team. Both his runners are owned by Khalid Abdullah, who took yesterday´s 2,000 as expected with Kingman, and while the owner´s main jockey James Doyle rides Vote Often, the trainer´s top rider Pat Smullen is on Tested. It is hard to know what to make of this, but it seems that Tested is carrying the first colours (pink cap) and so we make him the selection.
The Tattersalls Gold Cup is usually where Aidan O´Brien starts off his top older horses and he has won it repeatedly, usually with an odds-on favourite. That honour today goes to Magician, who is the top-rated runner, and easily holds Parish Hall (Jim Bolger/ Kevin Manning) on their form over this CD 3 weeks ago. However Magician´s wins in the Irish 2,000 and the Breeders Cup Turf both came on form ground, and although he won on the heavy at 2, we are not sure if this going will really be to his liking. We think it might be worth taking a chance with another Juddmonte hope, Noble Mission (Lady Cecil/ Doyle). This brother to Frankel (their younger half-sister was a good winner yesterday on very soft ground at Haydock) seems much improved this season and clearly goes well on this ground.