A potential bumper field of Classic fillies could line up for Saturday’s Juddmonte Irish Oaks, although a pair of relatively undistinguished outsiders might also command attention in a different Curragh weekend contest.
The Group Two €150,000 Comer Group Curragh Cup is Saturday’s main support event at HQ and takes place on the back of continuing uncertainty about Luke Comer’s involvement in racing.
The billionaire businessman saw a three-year suspension of his licence to train racehorses begin on Monday following the most extensive doping controversy in the sport’s history here.
A dozen Comer-trained horses at his Kilternan, Co Dublin, yard tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2021 and although no evidence of deliberate doping was found, as the licence holder Comer was held responsible.
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The Monaco-based property tycoon, for years one of Irish racing’s most significant sponsors, has vehemently denied wrongdoing but failed to overturn the decision in an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) appeals hearing in May.
The outlook for the horses and staff at his Kilternan base is uncertain, although on Tuesday two of his horses, now trained by Luke W Comer, were entered for the race he sponsors this weekend.
Aircraft Carrier and Seattle Creek, a winner at Leopardstown last week, are among 16 entries left in the prestigious contest over a mile and six furlongs. Comer jnr holds a restricted licence that allows him to train up to four horses in each code.
In March, Luke W Comer escaped a conviction and donated €20,000 to the ISPCA at Navan District Court after nine “fully decomposed” horse carcasses were found on his land in Co Meath by Department of Agriculture officials in 2021.
Comer was unable to explain the presence of the carcasses and said he knew nothing about the matter. He co-operated fully with department officials and apologised. Shortly afterwards, the IHRB said it planned to examine the incident, although there has been no outcome yet to that.
An unusually large entry of 18 fillies remains in the Oaks after Tuesday’s acceptance stage. Johnny Murtagh’s recent Naas trial winner Hanalia and the David O’Meara-trained Lava Stream were supplemented into the race at a cost of €50,000 each.
The latter finished runner-up to Aidan O’Brien’s Port Fairy in last month’s Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot and is one of several potential cross-channel starters that appear ready to try and take advantage of the absence of the recently retired Epsom Oaks heroine Ezeliya.
“We just thought with the Ribblesdale form being so strong and the winner of the Ribblesdale being favourite for the Irish Oaks, we may as well take our chance,” said Gary Moore, spokesman for Lava Stream’s owners.
“The form is there, that’s the reason why we’re going. There’s only a couple of Oaks you want to win, this is one of them and you’re able to take on three-year-olds rather than waiting to take on older fillies in the Yorkshire Oaks next time.
“She goes on any ground — the ground won’t bother at all. Even if she gets placed it would be amazing,” he added.
War Chimes and You Got To Me, third and fourth at Epsom, are also in the mix as is the highly rated Roger Varian-trained hopeful Ejaabiyah.
It is over a decade since the last French-trained winner of the race, Chicquita, the last of Johnny Murtagh’s record six winners as a jockey.
Dare To Dream is set to try and bridge that gap but with a local flavour as she is trained by Chantilly-based Irish man Gavin Hernon. She finished fifth behind Sparkling Plenty in last month’s French Oaks, the Prix de Diane. Hernon, a UCD graduate from Cork, started training in France in 2018.
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