RACING ROUND-UP:NATHANIEL features among 33 entries for the Red Mills Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on September 8th.
John Gosden’s four-year-old has returned better than ever this season, winning the Eclipse and going down by the narrowest of margins when attempting to win the King George V1 for a second successive year.
Nathaniel was not among the original list of entries but connections have paid €20,000 to add him to the field. Snow Fairy may travel for Ed Dunlop having pushed So You Think so close last year.
Although Camelot is on a Triple Crown mission with the St Leger at Doncaster a week later, Aidan O‘Brien is still strongly represented. St Nicholas Abbey and Imperial Monarch, as well as the filly Wading, are among the Ballydoyle team while John Oxx also has a strong hand with Born To Sea and Native Khan.
Dermot Weld’s Princess Highway and Dubai World Cup winner Monterosso are other possibles. Cirrus Des Aigles, Twice Over, Main Sequence and Parish Hall also catch the eye.
Dibayani is likely to have his next start in the Coolmore Canford Cliffs Stakes at Tipperary on August 10th after getting off the mark at the Curragh last weekend.
Owned by the Aga Khan and trained by Mick Halford, the Shamardal colt finished second in a maiden that has worked out extremely well on his debut.
He then won a maiden that has seen the likes of Teofilo and New Approach announce themselves onto the scene.
“He’s come out of the race fine and we’re looking at a Listed race at Tipperary on August 10th for him,” said Halford. “He’s also in the Futurity Stakes at the Curragh at the end of August but we’ll just see how he goes.”
