NEWS ROUND-UP:DERMOT WELD and Aidan O'Brien have proven Grade One records at Arlington Park in Chicago and both trainers will attempt to secure more top-flight success at this Saturday night's Million meeting.

Neither Irish trainer has a runner in the Million itself but Weld is targeting the $750,000 (€525,000) Beverly D Stakes on the same card with Mad About You while O’Brien is sending the Dante winner, Black Bear Island, for the $400,000 (€280,000) Secretariat Stakes.

Black Bear Island’s full-brother, High Chaparral, won the first of his Breeders’ Cup Turf victories at Arlington seven years ago and O’Brien knows what it takes to land the mile-and-a-quarter Secretariat having scored with Ciro in the year 2000. The champion trainer also won the Million in 2005 with Powerscourt.

Weld added to an already fine record at the Chicago track when Winchester ran away with last year’s Secretariat (beating the Ballydoyle runner Plan) and this time relies on last year’s Irish 1,000 Guineas runner-up, Mad About You, in the 10-furlong Beverly D.

“I’m looking forward to riding her. It’s a race that should suit her. She’s a very good filly and I think she will put on a big show,” said her jockey, Pat Smullen.

Ireland’s champion jockey missed out on Winchester’s victory last year, where Rene Douglas did the steering, but Smullen has a lot of experience at Arlington having won the Grade Two American Derby on Evolving Tactics (2003) and Simple Exchange (2004.) Weld was also successful in the same race with Pine Dance nine years ago.

O’Brien confirmed yesterday he won’t have a runner in Sunday’s Prix Maurice De Gheest over six and a half furlongs at Deauville but Jim Bolger still has the option of running Intense Focus and Vocalised in the Group One pot.

Waterford trainer Pat Flynn could yet have a Group One target in mind for his consistent filly She’s Our Mark but in the meantime she will be aimed at a Gowran Listed race in a week’s time and a Curragh Group Three at the end of the month.

“She’s in terrific order and if we can keep her at her peak we will go for a Group Two or a Group One later on,” said the in-form Flynn, who landed last week’s Galway Hurdle with Bahrain Storm. “We are definitely going to train him for next year’s Irish and English Champion Hurdles but in the meantime it will be weather dependent and I don’t mind if we don’t run him again this year.”

“Bahrain Storm is awesome on good ground. We only ran the day after the hurdle because he was well in. It was soft ground but he got away with it because he was so well in himself,” added Flynn.

Johnny Murtagh travels to Roscommon this evening for just one ride on Estephe in the mile-and-a-quarter maiden and this daughter of Sadler’s Wells and the Classic winner, Tarascon, can secure a valuable success.

Ground conditions are testing enough to have cancelled the chases at today’s meeting but that shouldn’t be a problem to a filly that chased home Art Broker at the Curragh on her last start.

Jazz Blues represents the John Oxx-Mick Kinane team but that one’s second to Pirate Ship at Cork doesn’t look overly-strong form so Estephe can emerge best.

Surprise Vendor is just about the best of this evening’s three-year-old hurdle contenders on the flat and with Ruby Walsh on board he should be hard to beat. Panic won at Cork on Sunday but may have to give best to Lastkingofscotland in the four-runner conditions race.