Joseph O’Brien has a pair of trans-Atlantic shots at securing a first top-flight prize of 2023 on Saturday.
No one has sent out more runners during the flat season than the 30-year-old former champion jockey who is closing in on the €3 million prize-money mark in Ireland for the current campaign.
Aidan O’Brien is in his perennial position at the top of the Irish trainer’s championship with more than €6.4 million but his son is second with almost twice as much as his nearest challenger, Jessica Harrington.
What O’Brien jnr hasn’t yet managed this season, however, is a Group One victory. In fact, his sole top-level winner in 2023 to date has been Banbridge over fences at Aintree in April.
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However, Goldana will try and put that right in Saturday afternoon’s Virgin Bet Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket before later that night Jumbly lines up for the Grade One First Lady Stakes in Keeneland.
Johnny Velazquez teams up with Jumbly in the mile turf contest worth $750,000 (€708,000) due off at 9.43pm Irish time.
The Irish hope, a 1.25 million Guineas purchase last year, and third in a Grade Two in Saratoga in August on her last start, is a 6-1 shot on the US morning-line betting.
She appears to face a tough task against a trio of Chad Brown-trained rivals including last year’s winner In Italian who is a 4-5 favourite. Brown has won the race for the last five years.
Goldana, winner of the Gladness at the Curragh in March on her first start for O’Brien, is a Sun Chariot outsider where she will be ridden by Kevin Stott for the first time.
O’Brien snr, a triple-Sun Chariot winner in the past, gives Meditate another chance to add to her top-flight haul although the race looks to be dominated by Frankie Dettori’s mount, Inspiral.
The John & Thady Gosden-trained filly beat colts in the Prix Jacques Le Marois on her previous outing and is well clear of her rivals on official ratings.
French raider Mqse De Sevigne landed a pair of Group Ones at Deauville during the summer and young jockey Alexis Pouchin retains the mount for trainer André Fabre.
Dettori has two rides on Saturday and needs only one of them to win to secure a landmark 500th career winner at Newmarket. The tally includes both Saturday’s course and the July track.
Saturday’s Curragh feature is the Group Three Staffordstown Stud Stakes which has thrown up subsequent classic winners Fancy Blue and Homecoming Queen in recent years.
The unbeaten Kitty Rose will bid to give her Co Down-based Italian trainer Natalia Lupini a first Group success and cement her credentials for next year’s 1,000 Guineas.
However, Kitty Rose is likely to encounter the softest ground she’s faced to date, a factor that has Lupini closely monitoring the weather outlook.
“We’ll just have to keep a close eye on the ground as she probably doesn’t want it too soft, so we’re not going to run her on very soft ground.
“She seems to have stepped up a gear in her work since Leopardstown and everything looks good apart from the weather, unfortunately,” said Lupini on Friday.
The weather outlook shouldn’t be an issue for Aidan O’Brien’s apparent number-one hope, Brilliant.
She has been ridden forward in a number of good races, including the recent Park Stakes when third to Caught U Looking. As a half-sister to the top-class Alcohol Free, testing conditions shouldn’t be a problem and more patient tactics might even see an improvement on her official 105 rating.
Dare To Dream, fourth in a Longchamp Group Three last month, is a rare French raider at HQ this year.
The Ballydoyle team has four in the opening maiden and Illinois is a regally bred newcomer being a half-brother to the Arc and King George heroine, Danedream.
National Hunt
Saturday’s National Hunt action is in Fairyhouse where the high-class My Mate Mozzie is an interesting newcomer to fences in the opener. The Galway Hurdle third subsequently ran fifth to Magellan Strait in the Curragh Cesarewitch.
There’s no Irish action on Sunday but the sport’s most successful amateur rider, Patrick Mullins, will hope it is third time lucky when he tackles the world-famous Velka Pardubicka in the Czech Republic.
The race includes the fearsome Taxis obstacle and Mullins, who reached 800 career winners at Listowel last month, has failed to finish it in two previous attempts.
This time he teams up with last year’s winner Mr Spex in a marathon contest that also includes two hopes from Ireland in the Peter Maher-trained pair, Jet Fighter and Alpha Male.
No Irish-trained horse has won in the contest’s 132-year history. The Charlie Mann-trained and ridden It’s A Snip emerged on top in 1995.
