Fresh from Istabraq's awesome display at Liverpool, Aidan O'Brien is now concentrating on organising his classic line-up, and he confirmed yesterday that his Group One-winning filly, Sunspangled, will go straight for the English 1,000 Guineas.
"The plan is to go for the Guineas without a run beforehand. She is very well at the moment," said O'Brien of Sunspangled, who was cut from 12 to 1 to 8 to 1 for the Guineas with Corals earlier in the week.
Sunspangled won the Meon Valley Mile at the Ascot festival last September and will bid to improve on O'Brien's Guineas second with Shahtoush last year.
One filly she will not have to contend with at Newmarket is the Moyglare winner, Edabiya, who will instead be kept for the Irish 1,000 Guineas.
"That was never really a serious option, especially after she slightly bruised a foot a couple of weeks ago," said Edabiya's trainer, John Oxx, yesterday.
"She is very forward and has a summer coat and we will be using the Curragh 1,000 Guineas as a prep' race for something more suitable like the English Oaks or the French Oaks," Oxx added.
Both O'Brien and Oxx will be out in force at Leopardstown on Sunday when the two Guineas Trials and the Ballysax Stakes will be contested.
Dermot Weld's National Stakes winner, Mus-If, will top the weights, however, in the 2,000 Guineas Trial, where he could face the Ballydoyle charge, Saffron Waldon.
"I have Mus-If and River Canyon in that race but Mus-If is the more likely runner. I am very happy with him and the Irish 2,000 Guineas is a likely option," said Weld, who could also run the Cork winner, Port Bayou, in the Ballysax. That race is also the target of the Oxx-trained filly, Rafayda.
O'Brien described Saffron Waldon as a possible runner on Sunday and he could also send the Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up, Crystal Downs, for the 1,000 Guineas Trial.
Today's Gowran programme is generally of a more mundane nature, with more of an emphasis on quantity than quality. The exception, however, is the opener where just three go, including O'Brien's Sadler's Wells colt, Tchaikovsky.
This one scored on his only start at the Curragh last September, scraping home from Mudaa-eb and High Stakes over seven furlongs.
The bare form doesn't look much but O'Brien seemed quite sweet on the horse as a long-term prospect. Today, Tchaikovsky is up against Fable and Jim Bolger's course winner, Queen's Love, and this looks an ideal opportunity for him.
Michael Kinane has a good record when teaming up with trainer David Hanley and he looks a significant booking for El Comendador, a slow-starting fourth to the top filly, Crystal Downs, over the course and distance last October.
Paul Carberry returns from his Grand National glory to ride Native Craft for Noel Meade in the handicap hurdle, and while this is quite a trappy contest, the Down Royal winner has her chance.
The form of Two Sweets' easy Fairyhouse success over Easter could provide the key to both divisions of the maiden hurdle. Bramble Wood was a staying-on fourth in that contest when crashing out at the last flight and should go close.
The Listowel manager, Brendan Daly, said there are patches of surface water still remaining on the course after torrential weekend rain and race prospects depend totally on the weather over the next couple of days.
An inspection found that recent bad weather had taken its toll and racing now depends on the track passing a further inspection at 12.30 tomorrow.
