Racing News round-up: Grey Swallow, the Dermot Weld-trained Classic hope who is as low as 14 to 1 for next year's 2,000 Guineas could get an early look at Newmarket's Rowley Mile in next month's Dewhurst Stakes.
Winner of his first racecourse start proper by 10 lengths at Galway, Grey Swallow delighted Weld in a piece of work at the Curragh yesterday morning and the trainer appears to favour the Dewhurst option over the Prix Jean Luc Lagadere, formerly the Grand Criterium, at Longchamp on Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe day.
"It is undecided but I probably prefer going for the Dewhurst. It will be over a straight course and it will probably be a more straightforward race. French races can sometimes turn into sprints with the whole field quickening at the end," Weld said.
Grey Swallow was originally intended to make his first start at the Curragh on Irish Derby weekend but had to be withdrawn after injurying himself in a starting stalls incident. The Daylami colt is a general fourth favourite for the Guineas behind the Aidan O'Brien-trained One Cool Cat.
Weld will also decide this morning which route his Melbourne Cup hope In Time's Eye is likely to take to Flemington on the first Tuesday in November.
The recent Michael Smurfit purchase, a 10 to 1 second favourite for the Cup with Blue Square behind Godolphin's Group One winner Mamool, could come out of quarantine and try to guarantee his Cup place in Sunday's Cumberland Lodge Stakes at the Ascot festival of racing.
"Alternatively, we will send him straight to Australia in order for him to run in the Caulfield Cup," Weld remarked.
Another Irish trainer targetting the Ascot festival is Aidan O'Brien who describes his Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Necklace as a "possible" starter in the Meon Stud Fillies Mile. The Ballydoyle team is also likely to include Statue Of Liberty in Saturday's Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Salt Lake City in the Diadem Stakes and possibly the Chesham runner-up Tycoon in the Royal Lodge Stakes.
There will also be an Irish presence on the international scene in New York on Saturday night as Weld's Dimitrova, winner of the American Oaks in Del Mar earlier in the season, has her third US Grade One start in the Flower Bowel Invitational at Belmont. Jerry Bailey will ride. America's top jockey was also on board when Dimitrova ran second at Belmont earlier in the month.
Johnny Murtagh yesterday lodged an appeal with the Turf Club against a seven-day suspension that would rule him out of Arc Longchamp. He was handed the ban for making insufficient effort on Edward Lynam's newcomer Dangle in the EMS Civil Engineering EBF Maiden at the Curragh on Sunday.
