Stage Affair napped

Aidan O'Brien's sparkling start to the flat season has meant relatively lean pickings for his rivals but Dermot Weld for one can strike back with a vengeance at the Curragh tomorrow.

Not that the Ballydoyle trainer is likely to leave headquarters empty-handed. With the Miswaki colt Rossini in the opener, O'Brien looks set to continue his complete dominance of the juvenile scene. Crystal Downs will be hard to beat in the Athasi and Lucky Legend should go close in the maiden.

Nevertheless, Weld and his stable rider Pat Smullen can counter the flow with Major Force in the featured Group Three Desert King Tetrarch Stakes and Stage Affair in the Mooresbridge Stakes.

Stage Affair was an easy six lengths winner of this race before running second to the top class Daylami in the Rogers Gold Cup. The strapping five-year-old looked sure to progress even further but an unhappy Royal Ascot experience, where he sweated up badly before the Hardwicke, seemed to halt that progress.

Pre-Cheltenham, Stage Affair was being talked of as a Supreme Novices' Hurdle candidate but he missed out and. with he benefit of a good break, should be A-1 for this. O'Brien relies on the Cork winner, Twickenham, a horse with a big reputation but who has proven little yet, so a bigger danger to Stage Affair can Campo Catino.

Major Force made all to beat Marius Petipa in a maiden two weeks ago, and while there is now a 3lb pull, Weld's charge could be more at home on the soft ground. The Anglesey winner Namid may need the run after returning from injury, while the filly, Athlumney Lady, looks up against it.

Crystal Downs missed the Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas trial last weekend because of a bruised foot but should establish her classic credentials in the Athasi; while Lucky Legend's Cork second was boosted by the subsequent running of Blast Of Storm. Institutrice is an obvious danger based on her only start at Galway behind Sunspangled and St Clair Ridge. Listowel's bad luck has allowed Cork to hold a weekend fixture and it can also prove a good move for rider Mick Murphy, who can score a double with Vain Minstrel, unlucky on his last start here, and Kanturk Girl in the novice handicap hurdle.

The emphasis is on quantity today, as Navan's eight-race fixture proves. Weld and Pat Smullen should also be on the mark in the opening maiden with Timote, who ran well enough at Cork on her seasonal debut. More Than A Stroll reverts back to hurdles from fences in the first division of the maiden and can be a winner for Barry Cash; while Noel Meade can be another trainer on the double, with Almira and Boley Lad.

Cork's Sunday card can allow Chatterbuck, an early faller in the Fairyhouse race won by Pinkpinkfizz, some compensation in the three-mile handicap chase.