IRISH PREVIEWS:BOTH CHINESE White and She's Our Mark attempt to again win this weekend's Irish feature at Gowran Park tomorrow but the older horses can be trumped by the three-year-old Karasiyra.
The trio are among 10 lining up for the Victor McCalmont Stakes, a Listed event won last year by She’s Our Mark when she had the 2008 winner Chinese White just behind her.
Chinese White went on to enjoy a successful 2009 but hasn’t been seen since disappointing in a Group One in Rome last October. However, She’s Our Mark already has a notable scalp to her name this season having relegated Fame And Glory to third in the Alleged Stakes at the Curragh last month.
Four representatives of the classic generation take on the older horses, including Dylan Thomas’s sister Remember When from Ballydoyle.
However, the step up to an extended nine furlongs could be just what Karasiyra ordered on the back of her seasonal debut when a running on fourth to Lady Springbank in the Guineas Trial at Leopardstown.
John Oxx’s filly was doing all of her best work at the finish and is bred to appreciate the step up in trip. She also has a defeat of Remember When to her credit as a juvenile.
Chinese White managed to win this race as a three-year-old and it looks significant that Oxx is allowing Karasiyra take her chance here rather than wait for next week’s Cheshire Oaks at Chester.
Oxx has Keraloun in the grandiosely-titled Classic Trial but this may be a good opportunity for Purple Heart, who should improve significantly for a run in a Curragh handicap earlier this season.
Aidan O’Brien runs three in the seven-furlong juvenile maiden and if ground conditions remain on the quick side then Séamus Heffernan’s mount Jackaroo could be the one to be on.
Dermot Weld’s Endless Expanse can build on a Dundalk victory in the fillies handicap, while Ibelieveinmiracles may be a value alternative in the mile handicap compared to Andanito who doesn’t look well-drawn.
Kilbeggan hosts its first meeting of 2010 this evening and the best bet on the six-race card looks to be Headford Flyer in the second division of the older horses maiden hurdle. Andrew McNamara’s mount chased home The Bull Hayes on the flat at Tipperary last time and before that landed a bumper at Clonmel.
Headford Flyer appeared over hurdles at Christmas and is also a point-to-point winner from last year. It adds up to a profile good enough to win out this evening.
Paul Townend can be on the mark at Kilbeggan on the Downpatrick chase winner Blaze Trailer, who reverts to the smaller obstacles in the three-mile handicap hurdle.
Townend will also be at Sligo tomorrow and he should have a successful spin in the conditions hurdle aboard Deutschland. Willie Mullins’s ultra-versatile seven-year-old chased home his stable companion Dorset Square at Punchestown and the combination of decent ground and two and a half miles should be perfect for him.
Deutschland’s stable companion Flat Out is the most high-profile National Hunt runner this weekend and on the form of his second to Blackstairmountain at Punchestown, and a fifth to Menorah at Cheltenham, he should have little more than a spin-round in the two-mile conditions hurdle.
John Magnier’s commercial interests will centre on Newmarket this weekend but he will also have an eye on tomorrow’s bumper where his wife’s colours will be carried by both Best Think Twice and Gunner Kelly. The presence of the Coolmore supremo’s son JP on the latter looks a hint worth heeding.
