The Coolmore Stud-bound Dylan Thomas gets the chance to end his racing career on a high when he lines up on Sunday for the €3.3 million Japan Cup in Tokyo.
Europe's racehorse of the year looked set to finish the year on a sour note with a lacklustre effort on unsuitably soft going at the Breeders' Cup in New Jersey last month. But he can banish that memory with a final victory in one of world racing's great events.
Frank Dunne's top mare Stanerra remains the only Irish trained winner of the mile and a half Group One event in 1983 but Dylan Thomas will tomorrow move from a quarantine centre to the racecourse itself in preparation for the 27th renewal of Japan's most famous race.
Dylan Thomas arrived in the country last Friday in readiness for what will be his 10th start of 2007, during which Aidan O'Brien's stalwart has landed four Group One events, the Prix Ganay, the King George, the Irish Champion Stakes and a memorable victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
That last success puts the Irish star in line for a $1 million bonus if he can win on Sunday as well at a track where fast going is usually served up.
John Murtagh, on board at Monmouth Park, and in the King George last summer, will again be on board Dylan Thomas who faces three other European challenges, Michael Stoute's Papal Bull, Halicarnassus from Mick Channon's yard and the German entry Saddex, as well as the American Grade One scorer Artiste Royale.
Of the home defence, the picks look to be last year's 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner Meisho Samson and the Dubai winner Admire Moon who is now owned by Sheikh Mohammed.
A Christmas return has been pencilled in by Ruby Walsh after the champion jockey reported there are no complications to the dislocated shoulder he suffered at Cheltenham on Saturday.
Walsh was keen for his own surgeon to see X-rays of the injury and the jockey's agent and sister, Jennifer, reported yesterday: "The surgeon read the X-rays and was happy with what he saw. He expects to be back within four to five weeks. It is straight-forward and there are no complications."
Walsh will miss out on Kauto Star in Saturday's Betfair Cup at Haydock where Michael Hourigan's veteran star Beef Or Salmon is set to have another crack at the Gold Cup hero. Charlie Swan's Offshore Account is another Irish entry among the 13 left in the three-mile chase. Beef Or Salmon was a distant second to Kauto Star in last year's Betfair.
Hourigan has one of the market leaders, Mossbank, for the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury at the start of December but the Co Limerick trainer insisted yesterday the Grade Two Clonmel winner is not a certain runner in that race.
"He has come out of Clonmel in perfect condition but he is not sure to go to Newbury. The horse will tell us when he is ready and it could be Christmas before he is out next," said Hourigan yesterday.
"He's still just a seven-year-old and is extremely versatile. He has grown a lot in the last two years and it used to be that he would run a good race and then lose his form a little," he added.
A Christmas date could also be on the cards for Sunday's Greatwood Hurdle winner Sizing Europe who is now as low as 16 to 1 for next March's Champion Hurdle.
Trainer Henry de Bromhead will sit down with Sizing Europe's owners to formulate a plan for the horse but a route towards the championship at Cheltenham looks to be favourite.
"I suppose the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown is a possibility," de Bromhead said yesterday.
"I have always been the biggest fan of the horse and I suppose the only way to find out if he is up to that class is to pitch him in and see how he gets on."
The Greatwood has been a stepping stone in the past to the Champion Hurdle and the trainer added:
"People have said it was not as high a grade race as in the past but he carried 11.6 and gave plenty of weight to some seasoned handicappers."
There is also likely to be Irish interest at Ascot this Sunday as the former dual Champion Hurdler Hardy Eustace is in line to try and repeat his success in the Coral Ascot Hurdle.
Dessie Hughes's stable star is part of an illustrious entry that also includes the top English runner Detroit City as well as Afsoun who was third to Sublimity and Brave Inca in last year's Champion Hurdle.
