The top German horse Ungaro is set to give an extra international dimension to Saturday week's Jefferson Smurfit Memorial Irish St Leger.

Ungaro, a Group One winner this year in Italy and Germany, is trained near Cologne by Hans Blume and £4,000 has been paid at the second entry stage. "He will run in Ireland or in a Group One in Germany the following weekend. I will wait until Tuesday before deciding," said Blume yesterday.

Ungaro was beaten by the Clive Brittain-trained Luso in his last race but before that had made all the running to win the Group One WGZ Bank-Deutschlandpreis over 12 furlongs at Dusseldorf. Prior to that, he beat John Gosden's Santillana in Milan. Already confirmed as a likely starter at the Curragh is last year's English Leger winner, Silver Patriarch, and Godolphin's Kayf Tara, winner of this year's Ascot Gold Cup, is also an intended runner.

Sunday week's Curragh meeting will feature the Aga Khan Studs National Stakes, where Aidan O'Brien will bid to continue his European dominance of the juvenile Group One races with Coliseum.

Racing today is at Downpatrick, which has a 4.45 start, and it's a fixture where apprentices take centre stage with two races confined to them.

Pride of place goes to the Northern Ireland Champion Apprentice Handicap, and Aidan O'Brien's promising apprentice Colm O'Donoghue is taken to win it on Wicklow Way.

Trained in Strabane, Co Tyrone, by Lindsay Woods, the eight-yearold hasn't run on the flat in over a year but proved she is in good form when trotting up in a hurdle race at Perth last time out. Now rated 6lb lower than when she last ran on the level, Wicklow Way is just preferred to Helorhiwater and Veritable Gallery.

The latest in the Derrinstown Maiden series looks set to go to Declan McDonogh's mount, Shyam, who ran well on the soft at Sligo recently and should have the edge on fitness against High Honour.