A year after his finest hour, Sunshine Street has his first start of 1999 in this evening's Gallinule Stakes, but the race-fit and classicplaced filly Dazzling Park is selected to beat the colts in the Group Three contest.
Sunshine Street's fourth at 150 to 1 in the 1998 Epsom Derby indicated an underestimated talent, a view confirmed by a subsequent fifth in the Breeders' Cup Turf in Kentucky.
However, the Noel Meade-trained colt, who picked up an injury during the winter in Dubai, has yet to land a Group race despite having a 118 rating. It will be disappointing if he doesn't put that right this season but he will surely come on for this race and heavy rain would put his participation in doubt.
Dazzling Park also has a sizeable task in taking on the colts but she ran a blinder to be third to Hula Angel in the Irish 1,000 Guineas and will be perfectly at home on the going if the forecast of "yielding" proves accurate.
The classically-bred Urban Ocean won well at Cork but it looked flattering to talk of him as a Derby horse. This is a more suitable graduation for him, but Dazzling Park's Group One form makes her appear more of a finished product.
