Sole Power can deliver

TODAY'S PREVIEWS:IT TAKES a fast horse to run too free in a five furlong race but if Sole Power can relax a little bit then the three-year-old will be hard to beat in the big Bank Holiday sprint at Naas.

A total of eight runners line up in an all-Irish Listed race and while the older brigade includes smart runners like Miss Gorica and Snaefell, Sole Power will be tough to overcome.

Pat Smullen’s mount was beaten less than two and a half lengths in the Palace House Stakes last month when the Group One winners Equiano and Borderlescott were hard-pushed to overhaul him.

Sole Power actually looked to run too free at Newmarket but despite that hung on well in the closing stages to have horses like the Abbaye winner Total Gallery behind him.

Significantly Smullen is back on Sole Power this afternoon instead of riding Miss Gorica and five furlongs on fast ground should be perfect.

The Naas feature is the Group Three Coolmore Fillies Stakes which does contain a cross-channel raider in Kevin Ryan’s Geesala.

However it looks encouraging ahead of Royal Ascot that Tommy Stack’s High Award managed to win the Woodcote at Epsom on Saturday and it could be worth taking a chance with Emerald Ring in this afternoon’s €100,000 highlight.

David Wachman’s filly ran an encouraging debut at Navan behind Purple Glow and it looks significant that her trainer is promoting her to this class.

Purple Glow subsequently failed by only a neck to Samuel Morse in a Stakes race at the Curragh and should be hard to beat in the juvenile sprint while the drop back to seven furlong for the final handicap could pay off in style for Spirit Of Xaar.

Sarteano was a winner on the level at Tramore on Saturday and last month was a comfortable scorer over fences at Down Royal. Dessie Hughes’s runner has a first start over hurdles in ten months at Listowel this afternoon and could complete a cross-code hat-trick.

King Of Redfield was a comfortable winner at Tipperary on Thursday and a 4lb hike in the weights shouldn’t stop him playing a major role in the three mile handicap hurdle.