RACING:DAVID WACHMAN was denied running his high-class filly Fire Lily when this evening's scheduled meeting at Fairyhouse was cancelled yesterday but the in-form trainer is looking ahead at some Group One options for his star two-year-old Probably.
The son of Danehill Dancer got the better of Aidan O’Brien’s Cristoforo Colombo in last Saturday’s Railway Stakes at the Curragh, a performance that puts him into the reckoning for some top-flight juvenile events throughout Europe later in the season.
Wachman yesterday gave Probably a clean bill of health after his weekend exploits and reported: “He’s perfect, not a bother on him. He’s a grand colt, but we just want it to stop raining or else there will be no racing.”
Wachman added: “He’s in all the big races in the autumn and we’ll see how he is between now and then. He’ll have to run somewhere in July and August before those Group Ones. We’ll just have to play it by ear. We’ll be looking at races over seven furlongs and we’ll try him at a mile in time.”
A more immediate Group One option is Saturday week’s July Cup at Newmarket for which Fire Lily is as low as 16 to 1 in some ante-post lists. The Dansili filly was due to run in the Group Three Brownstown Stakes tonight but the Fairyhouse track failed an inspection yesterday afternoon.
Horse Racing Ireland have moved quickly to reschedule the meeting which will now be held on Tuesday next, July 10th, with the first race off at 2.05pm.
“The place is just saturated. We have had 174mm of rain here since the start of June. That’s more than all of January, February and March combined,” the Fairyhouse chief, Peter Roe said yesterday. All we need is a couple of dry days and we would be fine. But it doesn’t look like we’re going to get them for a while.”
Trainer Ken Condon is aiming at some black type for his progressive filly Montebell in next month’s Give Thanks Stakes at Cork.
The daughter of Dylan Thomas only made her racecourse debut in April and has shown plenty of promise in three starts in four weeks. She was second to Sunday’s Curragh Cup winner Hartani at Tipperary on her last outing in late May.
Curragh-based Condon said: “Hartani has franked the form and I think he improved an awful lot from that run at Tipperary. She had three runs pretty close together so we gave her a little break and she’s back training and cantering away. We are hoping to run her in the Give Thanks Stakes at Cork on August 5th.”
Co Tipperary trainer David Nagle gained a famous Group Three success with Maarek at Newcastle on Saturday and could aim for a follow up in Newbury’s Shadwell Stakes on Saturday week. “There’s not a bother on him,” Nagle said. “Wherever the ground is soft, we’ll go.”
