RACING NEWS AND PREVIEWSIRISH GROUP One interest today will centre on the Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes at Newbury but there will also be a lot of night-time viewing going on Down Under as the Australian star Haradasun makes his first start for Aidan O'Brien.
The five-year-old son of Fusaichi Pegasus is regarded very much as a superstar in Australia where he secured two Group One victories last year when trained by Tony Vasil.
Those wins, along with a top pedigree, were enough for the Coolmore supremo John Magnier to splash out about €13.6 million, for a half-share in Haradasun.
That hardly looked a steal price when Haradasun didn't win again but there were a series of a good placed efforts in top races, including third in the Cox Plate, after which the horse was transferred to O'Brien in Tipperary.
Public interest in Haradasun in Australia is still intense and there was plenty of focus on the horse's other owner, Frank Tagg, when he issued a report of a sizzling gallop by Haradasun at Ballydoyle last weekend.
O'Brien had declared Haradasun for last Sunday's Amethyst Stakes at Leopardstown but he was taken out of that to wait for this afternoon's Group One where he will be joined by his stable companion, Astronomer Royal, winner of last year's French 2,000 Guineas.
"I spoke to Aidan on the phone . . . it seems like it was a pretty special track gallop," Tagg told the Sydney Morning Herald this week.
"It prompted them to change tack immediately and head for the Lockinge. Coolmore have a huge investment in the horse. He wouldn't be running unless they were supremely confident he would run well," he added.
Sure enough Johnny Murtagh is on board Haradasun with Colm O'Donoghue riding Astronomer Royal on whom the Cork-born jockey won at Longchamp last year. Along with Majestic Roi, the O'Brien pair are the only Group One winners among the dozen runners in a race that has fond memories for Ireland's champion trainer.
Hawk Wing's spectacular demolition of his Lockinge opposition in 2003 remains the highest rated official performance by any O'Brien runner during his hugely successful career to date.
Ground conditions are likely to be quick at this evening's Kilbeggan fixture and that should suit Model Athlete perfectly as Noel Meade's horse attempts a quick hat-trick in the three-mile conditions hurdle.
Model Athlete hasn't the look of a fast-ground-loving horse but the surface appeared to do the trick at both Punchestown and Cork and the hike up to three miles should be no trouble around this tight track.
Maibet returned from a six-month absence with a run at Punchestown that should put Liam Kenny's seven-year-old in with a chance in the two-and-a-half mile handicap hurdle. Maibet's bumper-winning form on fast ground looks interesting in tonight's context.
Some Craic is upped to three miles for the handicap chase and also has 12lb extra in the ratings for winning at Clonmel earlier in the month. Neither factor looks enough to stop a follow up.
-Big Brown is as short as 1 to 4 to win the second leg of the American Triple Crown when he faces 11 rivals in today's Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. Big Brown drops back to a mile and a furlong at Pimlico.
