Group race at Cork

as is often the case, the best Sunday race comes from Ireland, where the Group Three Munster Oaks will be run at 16.50 CET at Cork. Dermot Weld and Pat Smullen have won this 3 times in the past 5 years and they can score again with Edelmira, who can give the Aga Khan his second Oaks success within a few minutes if his Chantilly runner also delivers the goods. She won her only start in good style and can make the most of the 17 lbs weight concession she gets from Venus de Milo (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien), who looks easily the best of the older horses.

There is also a listed sprint on the card at 16.15; if the ground comes up soft we would expect British raider Eton Rifles (Steve Williams/ Joseph O´Brien) to score, but he has to have the right ground, the heavier the better, Otherwise last year´s winner Cape of Approval (Tommy Stack/ Billy Lee) looks best despite a long break.

Top race in the U.K. is the listed 6 furlongs event at 16.55 at Salisbury Highland Colori (Andrew Balding/ David Probert) won the Ayr Gold Cup last year and has moved up to listed class well enough, although he was behind Professor (Richard Hannon/ Richard Hughes) last time at Windsor. The Hannon/ Hughes team have dominated this race in recent years and could do so again, although Artistic Jewel (Ed McMahon/ Graham Lee) could be a threat in receipt of 5 lbs. The two 3yo´s in the field do not look good enough, but we expect this age group to come out on top in Doncaster´s main feature, a 6 furlongs handicap at 17.15. Golden Steps (Marco Botti/ Ryan Moore) and Crisis Averted (Richard Fahey/ Paul Hanagan) both receive lots of weight from their elders, are very lightly raced and will probably be running in a much better grade before long.