RACING:SO YOU Think and Aidan O'Brien's five other contenders for Saturday's Dubai World Cup festival are settling into their Meydan base but the champion trainer can make a major home impact at Leopardstown this evening.
A 4.25pm start for the Dublin track’s first Flat meeting of 2012 indicates how the summer game is really starting to hit its stride, as does the presence of an eye-catching Ballydoyle trio of newcomers for the opening fillies maiden.
Along is a sister to Galileo and Sea The Stars while Seducing is from the family of the Guineas and Oaks heroine Kazzia.
But Joseph O’Brien is on Betterbetterbetter, a sister to Group One winners Yesterday and Quarter Moon, and the jockey arrangements could be significant.
O’Brien jnr will be on So You Think in Saturday’s World Cup, the world’s richest race, and the Ballydoyle team enjoyed an uneventful passage to the Middle East.
“The horses all travelled well, and arrived here in good order, no problems whatsoever. They have all had uninterrupted preparations in Ireland . . . We have a bigger team here than in the past and I’d say they all come here with chances,” said Pat Keating in Dubai, O’Brien’s travelling head lad.
Joseph O’Brien can warm up for Meydan this evening since Taigan and Furner’s Green have solid chances while Robin Hood is an interesting runner in one of the 10 furlong handicaps.
The colt was good enough to run third in a Beresford Stakes, but has not run since that effort behind Casamento in late 2010.
