HORSE RACING NEWS:UP TO now the French have been absent from the Curragh's 2010 classics, but Rosanara can make an immediate Gallic impact when she travels from Chantilly for tomorrow's Darley Irish Oaks.
The strength of French racing has been obvious this spring and summer, keeping all four classics at home, with Special Duty and Makfi completing a Guineas double in Newmarket and Goldikova and Byword leading the way for the older brigade with memorable Royal Ascot successes.
But there were no French runners at Epsom, and that is what makes Rosanara such an intriguing starter tomorrow against the first three home at Epsom, led by Snow Fairy, who will attempt to become the 13th filly to complete the Oaks double.
Ed Dunlop's diminutive star is one of four supplementary entries (at a total cost of €170,000) into the 16-strong field which is the largest for the Irish Oaks in 34 years.
Also added to the list of runners were the Godolphin duo of Hibaayeb and Miss Jean Brodie, as well as Eldalil, who chased home Hibaayeb in last month's Ribblesdale at Ascot.
Not surprisingly, the pre-race focus has been on Snow Fairy, who broke Ryan Moore's classic duck at Epsom and who will attempt to perform a similar job for Britain's champion jockey in the Irish classics.
Just a neck separated her from Meeznah last month, with Aidan O'Brien's Remember When a couple of lengths further back in third. Akdarena was sixth at Epsom, but it was Jim Bolger's filly and not Remember When who subsequently did best of the three-year-olds behind Chinese White in the Pretty Polly.
The suspicion that it might not have been a vintage Oaks at Epsom has possibly contributed to such open betting, and such a large field, so Alain de Royer-Dupre's decision to send Rosanara here looks even more significant.
His last Irish Oaks runner was Shawanda in 2005 and she turned the race into a procession. She, too, was a daughter of Sinndar, and as Rosanara's dam is by Linamix it is a fair bet the forecast rain tonight won't be an issue, which can't be said with confidence about many of the others.
A brilliant Boussac winner as a juvenile, Rosanara has yet to win this year, but was beaten less than a length in the French Guineas off an interrupted passage and was second-best to another Aga Khan filly, Sarafina, in the French Oaks last month.
"She is in very good form and has worked very well. She is stepping up in trip but she should stay no problem," said the Aga Khan's spokesman, Georges Rimaud, yesterday. "We should expect a good run."
Rosanara had a smart filly in Deluxe behind her in the Prix de Diane, and Deluxe had finished ahead of Hibaayeb in May's Prix Saint-Alary.
The Godolphin filly has improved since for stepping up in trip, but the one to take out of that Ribblesdale at Ascot could be Eldalil, who missed the break that day and represents the most successful trainer in Irish Oaks history, Michael Stoute.
Famous was the sole defector from the Oaks yesterday, but the sister to Mastercraftsman lines up instead in the Listed Kilboy Estates Stakes. This company looks a lot more suitable than last month's Coronation Stakes, where Famous was nevertheless beaten only eight lengths by Lillie Langtry.
Samuel Morse is one of two Ballydoyle hopes in the four-runner Anglesey Stakes and is sure to be well fancied. However, Jim Bolger's newcomer Glor Na Mara is reported to be well above average and missed out on a Group Two debut in the Railway Stakes due to coughing.
It generally pays to side with English sprinters against their Irish counterparts, and Masta Plasta can repeat his 2008 triumph in the Rockingham Handicap for trainer Dandy Nicholls.
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