O'Brien set for Newmarket

RACING:AIDAN O'BRIEN wasn't represented in either of Longchamp's Group One races for two-year-olds at the weekend but the champion trainer is set to pursue both big juvenile prizes with a vengeance at Newmarket this Saturday.

Power is one of half a dozen Ballydoyle entries among the 14 left in the seven furlong Dewhurst Stakes but the National Stakes winner also figures among the possibles for the Middle Park over six furlongs on the same card.

O’Brien indicated after Power’s success in the National that the Dewhurst would be a logical progression for the colt who is already as low as 8 to 1 in some ante-post lists for next year’s 2,000 Guineas.

Also left in the Dewhurst is the Beresford winner David Livingston and Daddy Long Legs who landed the Royal Lodge at Newmarket on his last start. Other possible Irish interest in Britain’s most prestigious two-year-old race could come from Jim Bolger’s Futurity runner-up Parish Hall.

As well as Power, the Curragh maiden winner Nephrite and Reply also hold dual entries this weekend while O’Brien’s Crusade figures in the Middle Park alongside Mick Mulvaney’s consistent youngster Tough As Nails.

In other news, Punchestown racecourse yesterday announced major price reductions for the season ahead which kicks off next week at the home of Irish jump racing. The most significant price reduction is the 33 per cent discount on general admission Punchestown Festival tickets which will be priced from €20 per day for three days of the event.

But all other meetings will have an admission charge of just €10, regardless of whether the fixture is midweek or weekend.

Previously weekend and midweek fixtures were €18 and €15 respectively. “For financial reasons we were not in a position to make significant cuts to our prices up until now,” said manager Dick O’Sullivan.