Castle Star, the sole Irish challenger for Saturday’s Group One highlight at Haydock, faces an uphill task judged on both the market and history.
Fozzy Stack’s sprinter is among the outsiders for the Betfair Sprint Cup where he will be ridden for the first time by Ronan Whelan.
The six-furlong contest also includes last year’s winner Emaraaty Ana, as well as another proven Group One winner in Godolphin’s Naval Crown.
In contrast Castle Star failed to fire in his only start to date this season at the Curragh.
He also faces a statistic that only a single Irish-trained horse – Gordon Lord Byron in 2013 – has managed to win Haydock’s biggest flat race, in half a century.
As well as that, Stack has yet to strike at the top-level under his own name.
However, Irish hopes could be encouraged by a step up to six furlongs and the memory of an unlucky second to Perfect Power in last year’s Middle Park at that trip.
European Group One action this weekend extends to France and Germany on Sunday.
Last year’s Arc hero Torquator Tasso will be ridden by Frankie Dettori for the first time in the Grosser Preis Von Baden at Baden-Baden where he clashes with this year’s German Derby winner Sammarco.
Before that Aidan O’Brien’s 2020 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Order Of Australia will try to go one better than last year in the €450,000 Prix Du Moulin at Longchamp.
Hindsight makes the task Order Of Australia faced when runner-up to Baaeed in this race a year ago all the more intimidating.
This time he has to overcome an outside draw in stall 10 of the runners in historic mile contest.
Godolphin’s English Guineas winner Coroebus and the French 1,000 Guineas victor Mangoustine are among half a dozen three-year-olds taking on their elders in a race due off at 2.48 Irish-time and live on Sky Sports Racing.
Order Of Australia was fourth to Inspiral in his last start at Deauville in the Prix Jacques Le Marois.
Ryan Moore travels to Paris to take the ride again in a race he and O’Brien combined to win with Circus Maximus in 2019.
In other news apprentice jockey Wesley Joyce is expected to be discharged from hospital next week, over a month after a bad fall at the Galway festival.
Joyce was dislodged from Red Heel soon after the start of a Listed contest at Ballybrit and suffered major chest trauma. He spent a considerable period of time afterwards in intensive care at University Hospital Galway.
On Friday the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s chief medical officer, Dr Jennifer Pugh, said: “Wesley suffered a number of complex injuries that included a vascular injury within his chest, damage to his larynx and also to his lungs, ribs and collarbone.
“He remains under the terrific care of the team at University Hospital Galway and is in good form. It is hoped that Wesley can be discharged next week at which point he will commence his rehabilitation process.”
