Judged even by the heights Wayne Lordan has scaled this season, a potential Group Two double at the Curragh on Saturday wouldn’t be insignificant for the rider.
With Ryan Moore on duty in York, Lordan steps in for an enviable book of rides, including Constitution River in the Coolmore Futurity and Composing in the Alpha Centauri Debutante Stakes.
Both races have a proven pedigree of identifying future Classic horses and indicative of Lordan’s crucial role as Ballydoyle’s number two is that he’s already won on both this season.
That role delivered the 43-year-old jockey a landmark Epsom Derby victory on Lambourn in June, as well another Group One success on Scandinavia in last month’s Goodwood Cup.
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Top-level hopes are also likely for Constitution River, who managed to win his maiden around Galway’s tricky test. Perhaps the course and distance winner Geryon will be his major threat in a Futurity that Aidan O’Brien has won 17 times in total.
Composing is already a Group winner after landing Leopardstown’s Silver Flash and she could get the better of another Ger Lyons runner in Suzie Songs who landed the Anglesey on her last start.
Lordan’s attention switches to Goodwood on Sunday, where he teams up with the Cork winner Precise in the Group Three Prestige Stakes. The one to beat looks to be Mark Prescott’s impressive Yarmouth scorer Moon Target.
Naas has a Group Three of its own on Sunday and a pair of cross-channel sprinters travel for the Tally Ho Ballyogan Stakes.
Sky Majesty is the higher rated of the pair but Jack Channon’s Miss Attitude could prove the overall betting value. Winner of a Listed race at Deauville on her last start, the mare bypassed Friday’s Nunthorpe Stakes to wait for this easier task and can run down her opposition late on.
