Kevin Manning aims for a first Curragh Derby success this evening on Trading Leather but the veteran jockey's Group One weekend ambitions could instead end up being fulfilled by the filly Rehn's Nest in tomorrow's feature.
It's just eight days since Rehn's Nest finished well beaten at top-flight level in Royal Ascot's Coronation Stakes but trainer Jim Bolger isn't wasting any time getting her out again for the Oxigen Environmental Pretty Polly Stakes and a combination of 10 furlongs and quick going could be just what Rehn's Nest requires.
Chase home
For a filly who won a Group 3 on heavy ground at the start of the turf season, Rehn's Nest ran a fine race in last month's Irish Guineas when belying 40/1 odds to chase home Just The Judge on fast going. She ran on so well that day that an increase in trip looked like it would suit and she is one of five three-year-olds taking on their elders tomorrow.
The older brigade include the 2012 Oaks heroine Was, as well as the first-time blinkered Princess Highway, who has been badly out of from in her last couple of appearances, but should love the going. Whether the same can be said for Alive Alive Oh, taken out of the Ribblesdale a couple of weeks ago due to the going, is debatable.
Instead Rehn's Nest at her best looks to provide a value alternative to her three-year-old rival, and the older horses.
Could also strike
Manning and Bolger could also strike tomorrow in the Group Three race for juvenile fillies where Heart Focus also makes a quick reappearance after an admirable fourth placing in the Albany at Royal Ascot.
Ground conditions, and the amount of light rain expected to fall this morning, may prove vital to today's action and Wayne Lordan, who will be on Galileo Rock in the big race, can make a major mark on the under-card courtesy of Slade Power's first attempt at the minimum trip in the five-furlong Sapphire Stakes and Sudirman in the Group Two Railway Stakes.
David Wachman supplied Probably to upset the odds in last year's Railway and there was plenty to like about the way Sudirman scored at Leopardstown last time.
