Irish weekend racing hopes straddle Atlantic

Jockey Wayne Lordan is facing into a potentially lucrative

transatlantic weekend, beginning with Curvy who lines up in Saturday night's Flower Bowl Invitational at Belmont Park in New York.

The David Wachman-trained filly is drawn eight of 10 runners for the $500,000 mile-and-a-quarter contest held on turf won by Dermot Weld’s Dimitrova in 2003. The race is off at 8.08am Irish-time.

Among Curvy's opposition are last year's winner Stephanie's Kitten and Watsdachances, both of whom were behind the subsequently demoted Secret Gesture in August's Beverly D Stakes in Arlington.

Lordan then travels to Paris to team up with his old ally Gordon Lord Byron in Sunday's Prix de la Foret, a race the stalwart gelding won in 2012, and has finished runner up in both 2013 and 2014.

Aidan O’Brien has an even greater transatlantic weekend focus. As well as runners at Newmarket today, and three other Group 1 hopefuls to add to his Arc pair at Longchamp tomorrow, the champion trainer is heavily involved in tonight’s Grade 1 action in Keeneland.

Seamus Heffernan takes the reins on War Envoy in the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile while both Heffernan and Colm O'Donoghue are in action in the $400,000 First Lady Stakes over a mile.