Willie Mullins has declared the unraced Arch Stanton to run in tomorrow's Entenmann's Irish 2,000 Guineas, but in the longer term, the top jumps trainer is targeting his good hurdler, Catch Ball, at the French Champion Hurdle.
That race will be run at Auteuil on June 16th and Catch Ball, who won a flat race at Killarney on her last start, will be visiting the track where Dawn Run, who was trained by Paddy Mullins, was killed in action in 1986.
In the meantime, Arch Stanton will be a big longshot against Tamburlaine and the Aidan O'Brien quartet headed by Michael Kinane's mount Minardi. "There are never too many runners in the race and having kept him in at all the entry stages, we just thought we would let him run," Mullins said yesterday. Niall McCullagh will ride Arc Stanton.
One of the Sunday highlights will be the Tattersalls Gold Cup, where Fantastic Light will represent Godolphin against the Breeders' Cup hero Kalanisi.
"Fantastic Light is working really well and it will be great to see him over a mile and a quarter again in such a prestigious race . After the weekend he has no end of options: the Coronation Cup and races at Ascot, but his big mid-summer target is the King George," the Godolphin spokesman Simon Crisford said.
Michal Kinane will be hoping for a first Irish 2,000 Guineas success since Flash Of Steel in 1986 when he rides Minardi tomorrow,
O'Brien will run all five of his entered fillies in Sunday's Entenmann's Irish 1,000 Guineas. Kinane has chosen to ride Toroca, third in the Newmarket 1,000, and Jamie Spencer will renew his partnership with the Moyglare winner, Sequoah, who has yet to race his season.
Seamus Heffernan will ride Imagine, while the Ballydoyle quintet will also feature Love Me True (Paul Scallan) and Bonheur (Colm O'Donoghue.)
O'Brien's sole previous success in the race came with Classic Park in 1997, and Toroca is a 7 to 2 second favourite with Paddy Power to repeat that win, while Sequoah is on 8 to 1. Crystal Music, trained by John Gosden, remains the 3 to 1 favourite.
Kinane can get in the groove for the classics with a trio of winners at Tipperary tonight.
Ishiguru is being spoken of as a potential top sprinter and if that is the case the opener should be no problem; and Darwin officially has 6lb in hand of his nearest rival in the seven-furlong race. Kinane will also be fancying his chances on Wednesday's Leopardstown fifth, First Draw, in the sprint handicap.
Up at Dundalk, Michael Halford could be a trainer to follow. Ballymote looks a reasonable option on her best form in the first, and the Navan winner, Rashay, can follow up in the second division of the nine-furlong handicap.
