CAMELOT APART, this year’s classic crop appear to lack star-quality, a point illustrated in Saturday’s Champion Stakes, and something that can be emphasised again by Midnight Music at Galway this evening.
Dermot Weld’s filly is the sole older horse among the half-dozen lining up for the Listed Ardilaun Hotel Oyster Stakes, the highlight of the three-day September session at Ballybrit.
Ranged against her will be the Ballydoyle pair of Chamonix and Demurely, while Coolmore will also be represented by Eternal Bounty. On official ratings there is little between them all but Midnight Music still looks to have plenty in her favour.
Proven on the course after winning the big amateur event at the festival over two miles, she should be ideally suited by the step up to a mile and a half after finishing third to Twirl over nine furlongs in a Stakes race at Gowran last time.
Midnight Music also appears indifferent to ground, a comment that may not apply to the wide-margin Killarney winner Chamonix, while Dermot Weld should know exactly where he stands with Demurely, who has finished behind Rosewell House horses on her last three starts.
Busy chasing Joseph O’Brien in the championship, Pat Smullen can also score on Cocktail Hour and Consonance today but could come up short in the concluding maiden on board Three Kingdoms. If ground conditions come up very soft, a mile and a half around here might not be ideal for a son of Street Cry whereas the other 77-rated runner, Faanan Aldaar, is bred to cope better.
