We move on to the 3rd and Final Day of the Irish Guineas festival on Sunday and this has the potential to be the best days racing in Ireland so far this year. Don’t forget to check out our YouTube and Social Media Channels for our teams’ thoughts on the Irish 1,000 Guineas at 3:50, but our team have also looked through the undercard and highlighted some of their best bets below.
The Curragh Day Three
1:45 Tally Ho Stud Irish EBF Fillies Maiden (IRE Incentive Race) (2yo)
We get underway at 1:45 with a maiden for the 2-year-old Fillies over 6-furlongs. We have 9-runners going to post and as all of them are newcomers, it would be impossible to form a strong opinion, although the lofty price tags of Grand Job and Gunzburg make them appealing prospects to watch.
2:15 Barberstown Castle Irish EBF Fillies & Mares Handicap (3yo+)
The second race comes up at 2:15 with a Handicap for Fillies over the 6-furlong trip and we do have a stronger opinion on this race. There are several in-form fillies here, Little Queenie and Queen’s Pardon most notably, but they will be well found in the market, and both have something to prove on ground this quick.
The same could be said for our selection, WAVE MACHINE, but the suspicion is that she will appreciate this strongly run-6-furlongs and the return to the Curragh, where she won her maiden last August, could be the key to getting her head in front again. She was thought good enough to run in the Fillies Mile at Newmarket last season and her 6th placed finish behind Believing at Chelmsford last time was a notable return to form. She has shown enough to suggest that she can win a handicap on her current mark and with the cheekpieces going on for the first-time to help her concentrate, she gets our vote.
2:45 Tattersalls Gold Cup (Group 1) (4yo+)
At 2:45 we take a step up in quality with the first Group 1 of the day, the Tattersalls Gold Cup. The presence of Vadeni and Luxembourg brings some extra spice to proceedings, although they both have to improve after somewhat underwhelming comebacks. Vadeni was 2nd in the Arc in October and has been brought back as a 4-year-old with that race as his ultimate aim.
Much like he did with Sottsass in 2020, Jean-Claude Rouget is likely to bring him on slowly with a view of peaking in Paris in 4-months’ time, so he is worth taking on. Luxembourg was so disappointing last time that it is hard to keep the faith, so this really ought to be at the mercy of BAY BRIDGE. He won the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October and made a much more promising return when 3rd behind Iresine in the Prix Ganay (Vadeni 4th). He has plenty of form on quick ground and should get the race run to suit.
3:15 Lanwades Stud Stakes (Group 2) (Fillies & Mares) (4yo+)
Next, we move on to the Group 2 Lanwades Stakes for the Fillies and Mares and Joseph O’Brien looks to hold the key to this race. He has 3 of the 8-runners but it is Honey Girl and GOLDANA who make most appeal. The former was an impressive winner of the Group 3 Athasi Stakes here at the start of the month and she sets a good standard. However, her best form has always come at 7-furlongs and there are some stronger staying milers in this field who may just have too much for her in the final furlong.
By contrast, Goldana should be suited by the return to a mile, and she has already proven her stamina for this type of test when she won over this distance for Peter Schiergen in Germany last year. She made her stable debut for Joseph O’Brien when winning the Gladness Stakes in April, a piece of form that was boosted when the 3rd placed Cosmic Vega won a Listed race at Naas last week. With the benefit of that run, she should be open to further improvement and may well have too much class for her stablemates and the rest of this field.
4:25 Heider Family Stables Gallinule Stakes (Group 3) (3yo)
After the 1,000 Guineas we head to the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes for the Colts over 10-furlongs. The key piece of form would appear to be the Listed Tertrarch Stakes, a race won by Aiden O’Brien with Paddington. DRUMROLL finished 2nd with Mister Mister 2-lengths behind him in 3rd.
On the face of it, Mister Mister could be considered likely to reverse that form as he was closing in the final 100-yards, but he had a much more patient ride and was ridden to try to pick up the pieces. By contrast, Drumroll was sent forwards with 2-furlongs to go and tired in the closing stages after expending a lot more energy to do so. With a more patient ride and better tactics, he should be capable of winning against these rivals.
4:55 Barberstown Castle Irish EBF Fillies Maiden (3yo)
The Fillies maiden at 4:55 looks to be an impossible puzzle to solve so we will skip that and finish our weekend in style with the Download the App at Novibet Handicap at 5:25. There are 21-runners heading to post, so this won’t be easy, but the standout candidate is surely ZANNDABAD.
He was a smart type in France and his new connections went to €240,000 to secure his services in the autumn. After a series of solid performances over hurdles, he returns to the Flat in a race that should give him the strong test of stamina that he needs. A mark of 95 does not look beyond him and the step beyond 1-mile and 4-furlongs is likely to bring out a lot more improvement.
The Curragh Day Three 28/05/2023 – Top Picks
Betting Irish 1000 Guineas – NRNB – 28th May 2023 -Odds Curragh | Novibet
