Calorando Murtagh banker

RACING: Johnny Murtagh will be hoping that, by the time Michael Kinane takes up his bow and starts fiddling in Chicago this evening, he will have set Leopardstown ablaze earlier in the afternoon and that Kinane will already have heard how the Irish jockeys' championship title has begun to slip away from him. On an eight-race programme Murtagh has fancied rides all the way, even if the only banker is his final mount, Lady Clague's Calorando.

However, Lady O'Reilly is enjoying such a good season that her newcomer Alliata may provide a test in the opener for the well-reported Ingres.

In the next, while Akdara appears only third best to Tajseed and Collectors Item, the Aga Khan's filly showed such obvious signs of inexperience on her Navan debut when fifth to In The Limelight that she must make appreciable improvement.

When Calorando made his debut on the opening day of the Flat season at the Curragh, you would have laid long odds against his being still eligible for a maiden at the end of October. He has not, however, made it to the racecourse in the interim, and those who backed him down to favouritism have lent their money long-term. He should not have been beaten by Chartres on that occasion.

The argument in favour of Ingres is that while Aidan O'Brien may be disporting himself in Group One company on this day in England and America alike, he still showed his determination to win this European Breeders Fund Maiden by making no fewer than 14 five-day entries.

He would also take it as a good omen should Twentytwoandchange win the Stepaside Race. On the last occasion that he competed at Leopardstown he ran second, seven lengths behind High Chaparral.

With Galway waterlogged, Wexford gets the Sunday all too itself this weekend, and this afternoon it provides National Hunt enthusiasts with an alternative to the all flat card at Leopardstown. Philip Rothwell can give the locals cause for cheer with his improved Classsic Lash going for a hat-trick in the Hook Head Handicap Hurdle, a contest in which winning form this year is very much at a discount.