King Of Kings, the onetime favourite for next year's English 2,000 Guineas, will run in tomorrow's Tyros Stakes at the Curragh. In a surprise move, the colt will be reappearing sooner than expected after his controversial defeat by Lady Alexander in the Anglesey Stakes at the Curragh on July 13th.
Trainer Aidan O'Brien's wife, Annemarie, said yesterday: "The horse was originally going to run in the Futurity but Aidan is very happy with him and the horse has a lot to learn still. He is very well."
Lady Alexander has put that Anglesey effort by King Of Kings in a different light by subsequently winning Goodwood's Molecamb Stakes and the Anglesey third, Princely Heir, won the Group 1 Heinz 57 Stakes at Leopardstown last Sunday.
Christy Roche, who was widely criticised for appearing to be easy on King Of Kings in the closing stages of the Anglesey, will ride the colt again tomorrow.
The Curragh manager Brian Kavanagh described the participation of King Of Kings in the seven-furlong Listed race as "a smashing boost. We were going to have a good card anyway with Oscar Schindler and Strawberry Roan due to run in the Royal Whip but it will be great to see King Of Kings running again."
A veritable deluge of racing over the next few days begins at Dundalk this afternoon and continues at Tramore in the evening and while today's quality leaves a lot to be desired, there does appear to be a number of worthwhile betting opportunities.
In the last at Tramore, Dermot Weld, who plans to run Dance Design in the Grade One Beverly D Stakes at Arlington, Chicago, in eight days, gives Arms Ban his second racecourse start in the Queally Group Flat Race. There may be a world of difference between Arlington and Tramore but a winner is a winner in any language and Arms Ban looks to be one.
Although he was beaten by 20 lengths by Beneficent at the Galway festival, that was no disgrace for a debutante as Beneficent is very highly regarded by his trainer Michael Halford and looks a sort to go on to much better things.
Arms Ban should find the extra half mile of tonight's race even more to his liking and after picking up that vital bit of experience should be up to providing Weld and his young amateur Edgar Byrne with another winner.
Con Collins can also take a winner back to the Curragh in the shape of Rain And Shine who will rarely have a better opportunity of landing a race than in the Dawn Meats Fillies Maiden. Rain And Shine's second to Darbela at Bellewstown last month was her third time in the runner up slot in a row but with the possible exception of Weld's San Jovita, she should now have few problems in breaking past that barrier.
The Ernst And Young Maiden and the Dawn Opportunity Maiden are two particularly uninspiring contests but something has to win them and Dr Bones and General Gleeson may be the solutions.
