irish Oaks at the Curragh

lots of good racing today, but the top race is clearly the Irish Oaks at 18.45 CET at the Curragh. Aidan O´Brien is always the place to start in the Irish classics and he saddles 5 of the 11 runners. With all due respect, we can probably ignore Beyond Brilliance, ridden by his younger daughter Ana, but his son Joseph rather surprisingly partners Tapestry, up in trip after disappointing in 2 Group Ones over a mile. Colm O´Donoghue poarzners Royal Ascot winner Bracelet, but she has little in hand of runner-up Lustrous (Richard Hannon/ Pat Dobbs); it could be significant that Ryan Moore is flying over from Newmarket (where he rides in the first 2 races) to partner Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Marvellous, sixth in that Ascot race. Hoqaever the key race for us is the Eplsom Oaks, won by Hamdan´s Taghrooda, who was hot favourite here before being switched to next week´s King George. The owner is having a great season and has an able deputy of Tarfasha (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen), runner-up at Epsom but only a short head in front of Volume (Luca Cumani/ Kevin Manning), with Marvellous and Palace (O´Brien/ Seamus Heffernan) well back. Weld´s second runner Vote Often (Wayne Lordan) needs a lot of rain to fall, which seems unlikely, while conditions should be perfect for Tarfasha, who is our selection.
The Oaks is backed up by a strong card which includes 2 Group Threes, both with a strong O´Brien entry. Darwin (Joseph) will attempt to repeat last year´s victory in the Minstrel Stakes over 7 furlongs at 17.40. He was a narrow winner last Sunday over 6 furlongs, but that form is not good enough; this trip is better, but we still prefer the 3yo filly Waltzing Matilda (Tommy Stack/ Lordan), in receipt of 15 lbs.
The O´Brien runner in the Anglesey Stakes for 2yo´s over 6 furlongs at 18.10 is Dick Whittington, but he finished just behind Toscanini (Mike Halford/ Shane Foley) at Royal Ascot and that could happen again, while the filly Newsletter (Ken Condon/ Smullen) also ran very well at Ascot and is a another danger.
One should also certainly watch the opening 2yo maiden here at 16.00, which O´Brien won last year with Australia. He has 3 runners this time (so does John Oxx), of which St. Patricks Day (Joseph) might be the best.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: St Patrick`s Day - I Will Excel - Parish Boy
2. Race: Oor Jock - Whitey O` Gwaun - Kings Ryker
3. Race: Sea Coast - Ramone - Sretaw
4. Race: Eastern Rules - Darwin - Waltzing Matilda
5. Race: Newsletter - Dick Whittington - Toscanini
6. Race: Tarfasha - Marvellous - Volume
7. Race: Blackstone - Gone Viral - Show Court
8. Race: Annus Mirabilis - No Wunder - Sea The Lion