This weekend’s action might be light on top-flight competition but it does underline just how much of a global village flat racing has become.
There are a trio of Group Three prizes up for grabs at the Curragh on Saturday and another at Tipperary 24 hours later. The big money pot at HQ, though, is the Paddy Power Supporting Cancer Trials Irish Cambridgeshire, worth €100,000.
Financially all of it pales in comparison to what Irish hopefuls are in pursuit of in the US on Saturday night at the Kentucky Downs track.
The comparative racing outpost – America’s only solely turf racecourse – borders Tennessee and isn’t normally where US racing’s big beasts roam, never mind big guns from Europe. But thanks in part to revenue generated by an on-course casino Kentucky Downs has been able to offer astronomical prize money of close on $37 million (€33m) at its latest series of meetings.
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It’s a scenario the envy of most every other jurisdiction and means Joseph O’Brien’s Stromberg will line up for Saturday night’s Nashville Derby Invitational, which is worth a basic $2 million. That rises to $3.1 million for Kentucky-bred horses that meet certain criteria.
Michael O’Callaghan’s Richmond Stakes winner Black Forza meets such criteria and so can compete for the full purse in Sunday night’s $1 million National Thoroughbred League Juvenile Sprint.
Dylan Browne McMonagle partnered Black Forza to his Group Two success at Goodwood last time and keeps the mount. The young Co Donegal jockey will also be on board Stromberg for his boss.
Unsurprisingly for such money some of America’s top trainers and jockeys have managed to find their way to the Kentucky/Tennessee border too, including Frankie Dettori, who will team up with the Andrew Balding Bellum Justum in the “Derby” due off at 10.16pm Irish-time and live on Sky.
He ran in June’s Epsom Derby when seventh behind City Of Troy, and is joined by Stromberg, who finished third in Deauville on his last start. The Irish hope is a 6-1 shot in local Morning Line betting.
Jamie Spencer won at the track on Ancient Rome a year ago and rides the ex-Ballydoyle horse Navy Seal in the extended 10-furlong event.
The kidney-shaped grass circuit is one of just two tracks in North America to have a right turn – the other is Santa Anita’s downhill turf route – and is perhaps the most European-type course in the US.
“I have had Kentucky Downs in the back of my mind for a long time,” O’Callaghan told local media. “The prize money gets to a certain point, and you can’t ignore it. This race he [Black Forza] is running in is worth four times what the traditional races back home are worth.”
Separately, Craon racecourse near Nantes in northwest France is a long way from the prestigious Paris tracks, but it too has managed to attract Irish interest on Saturday. Aidan O’Brien has sent his two-year-old Lambourn for a Listed contest where he will be ridden by Christophe Soumillon, while this year’s French Derby winning jockey Tony Piccone will team up with Edward O’Grady’s Ecureuil Secret in the later €60,000 Listed Grand Prix de Craon.
On Sunday O’Brien’s French focus will be on more familiar ground when the supplemented Treasure Isle lines up for the Group Three Prix D’arenberg (off at 12.45) in Longchamp. Ryan Moore goes to Paris to ride him, and will also be on board Mother Nature in the following Listed race. Her stable companion Lily Hart also lines up under Soumillon.
Before that Moore will be back at the Curragh for half a dozen rides, a week after he notched up four winners from four rides at HQ to reach a half-century for the season in Ireland.
With Browne McMonagle busy in the US Moore steps in for the Cambridgeshire spin on Wigmore Street, although once again his primary Curragh focus is on Ballydoyle’s hugely powerful juvenile squad.
Ides Of March won impressively over course and distance earlier this month. and looks the one to beat in the Round Tower Stakes, while Dreamy made a winning debut at Goodwood and goes in the Newtownanner Stud Stakes. Acapulco Bay should also be tough to beat in the opening maiden.
Willie Mullins has put Icare Desbois into the Pat Smullen Cancer Trials Ireland Charity Race that brings the Curragh’s action to a close.
Earlier on Saturday the champion jumps trainer will focus on the Ebor and County Hurdle winner Absurde, who is on comparative home ground at Chester for a Listed contest. Danny Tudhope is on board.
Sunday’s home feature is Tipperary’s Fairy Bridge Stakes, which looks an ideal stepping stone in Super Sox’s burgeoning career. Paddy Twomey’s filly has impressed in her last two starts at Cork and quick ground could help her make the step up to Group Three level against seven opponents that include Matilda Picotte.
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