RACING:THE GROUP One winner Lightening Pearl could face a crossroads in her career at Leopardstown on Thursday evening as trainer Ger Lyons attempts to find out if his stable star has trained on or not.
Last season’s Cheveley Park Stakes heroine failed to fire on her sole start as a three year old when well behind Homecoming Queen in the Newmarket 1,000 Guineas last month and Lyons admits he has failed to find any “wow” in her work since then.
A return to action in a race at York next month is still possible but the Co Meath trainer is anxious to establish on the racecourse if Lightening Pearl is still a contender for top honours and may pull her out before that in this week’s Group Three Ballyogan Stakes over six furlongs.
“She is working away and looks great but to be honest, the vibrations are not great. She is just doing enough and there must be a big chance that she hasn’t trained on. There are certainly no wow sounds coming from Glenburnie,” Lyons said yesterday.
“We won’t know for certain until she has a race and if the ground dries up I could declare her for the Ballyogan. Even with a 7lb penalty, if the real Lightening Pearl turned up, she would win a Ballyogan with her mouth open. I think we might declare her, see what’s in it and she will tell us.” .
Lightening Pearl also won a Group Three in impressive fashion at the Curragh last year.
A return to sprinting remains on the cards for the filly but a good effort in the Ballyogan could be crucial to her future racing career. The ground at the South Dublin course yesterday was officially “good to soft.”
“She will tell us. If she shows her true form it will be great. But if she doesn’t, she doesn’t owe us anything. She is already a Group One winner,” he added.
Lyons is already a Royal Ascot winner courtesy of the Queen Mary heroine Elletelle and although he is unlikely to have any two year old representatives at the big meeting next week, he could still play a role in two of the prestige handicaps.
“The Reaper is in the Wokingham but that is very much ground dependant,” he said. “And Piri Wango is in the Britannia. He definitely goes for that. It’s a race we’ve had in mind for him.”
The Wokingham is also a target for Irish trainer James Nash with his hardy sprinter Luisant who could earn a trip to Royal Ascot if successful at Navan on Friday night. “I’d expect him to win and pick up a 5lb penalty which should get him there. To be honest, you’d want him to win if you had any ideas of Ascot anyway,” he said.
