Speed Tests The Weekend Focus

[Wandering Eyes]

Sprinters young and old hold sway this weekend, with the juveniles centre stage on Saturday in the G1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes before the hardened category specialists take over in the G1 ARC Prix Maurice de Gheest 24 hours later. In the former contest, Aidan O'Brien looks set to add an 18th renewal with either the Coventry winner Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) or the Queen Mary winner True Love (No Nay Never) having missed out in six of the last seven.

Gstaad and True Love's powerhouse performances at Royal Ascot set them apart from the four peers lining up against them and it is probably a simple case of who is the better of the two stablemates, especially given the filly's subsequent Railway rout of the boys including the yard's hard-grafter Puerto Rico (Wootton Bassett).

Aidan O'Brien issued a note of caution regarding the colt on Friday, however. “Gstaad has been working well, but he was just a little bit quiet this morning,” he explained. “I don't think it was anything serious–all his work has gone well but he was just a little quiet so hopefully he'll be okay. They've met before obviously and the filly has that little bit more experience than the colt. It has always been the plan for him to run at Ascot, have a little break and then go to the Curragh.”

Only Green Sense (Starman) makes any sense outside of the Ballydoyle contingent, but while Simon Munir and Isaac Souede's admirable filly had her Robert Papin form franked at the weekend she has it all to do to bridge the gap to the front pair.

At Deauville on Sunday, Wathnan Racing's Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee hero Lazzat (Territories) will be heavily favoured to record back-to-back renewals of the 6 1/2-furlong feature. His older contemporaries have questions to answer, so it could be up to the three-year-olds to put him to the test. The Aga Khan Studs representative Rayevka (Blue Point) was probably the moral winner of the Commonwealth Cup given the path she charted, with Godolphin's Shadow Of Light (Lope De Vega) putting up the first of two disappointments.

Shadow Of Light offered an even more deflating performance behind Resolute Bloodstock's Woodshauna (Wooded) in the Prix Jean Prat and at this stage the Graffard runner looks more upwardly-mobile, but we are talking about a Middle Park and Dewhurst winner and a 2,000 Guineas third and he remains a danger to all.

Also on Saturday is an intriguing edition of The Curragh's G3 Phoenix Sprint Stakes, where last year's Phoenix heroine Babouche (Kodiac) takes on the reigning British Champions Sprint Stakes winner Kind of Blue (Blue Point) and other classy types with fluctuating fortunes. At Newmarket, the G3 Newsells Park Stud Sweet Solera Stakes sees Billy Loughnane team up with Charlie Appleby for the ride on Godolphin's exciting filly Dance To The Music (Dubawi) before making the dash for Hoppegarten on Sunday to partner the yard stalwart Rebel's Romance (Dubawi) in the G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin he won in 2022.

At this time of year, next year's Classics are never far from the mind and Saturday's supporting card at The Curragh sees an intriguing seven-furlong maiden whose recent list of winners includes Delacroix, Diego Velazquez, Al Riffa and Thunder Moon. Ballydoyle's newcomer Hawk Mountain is a son of Wootton Bassett and Hydrangea with Ryan Moore booked in preference to an experienced stablemate, so a significant performance is bound to cause major ripples in the ante-post markets.

In the third race on the card, the often-informative Grand Hotel Malahide Irish EBF Fillies Juvenile Race won in 2016 by Hydrangea herself, Aidan O'Brien's debutante Diamond Necklace is a St Mark's Basilica half-sister to Magic Wand and Chicquita. Donnacha O'Brien, who took this last year with Falling Snow, saddles another beautifully-bred newcomer in Lookingforarainbow, a daughter of Justify and the past Phoenix winner Damson. As always with these pedigrees, the past continues to inform the present as we ready ourselves for the next cycle of Classic contenders.

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