THE SKREEN EBF Race at Navan last week may have been an above average contest, for the runner-up Cambodian turned out again at the Curragh on Saturday and ran a fine race when chasing home Johan Cruyff in the Group Two Beresford Stakes.
Fourth in that Navan race, three lengths behind Cambodian, was The French Furze, who bids for the Royal Oak EBF Nursery at Gowran this afternoon. The Be My Guest colt only qualified for handicapping at Navan and it should be noted that he finished ahead of his better-fancied stablemate Gaultier Gale there.
He could possibly be making rapid progress and over this nine furlongs is taken to beat off the challenges of the Jim Bolger pair, lnishargy and Elida, and the easy Tralee winner, Go Thunder.
Aidan O'Brien, trainer of The French Furze, may also provide the winner of the two other juvenile races on the card. In the opening division of the Waterford EBF Fillies Maiden, his Orange Jasmine, second on both her outings, may have the John Oxx newcomer, Red Affair, to beat. Shell Ginger, his representative in the second division, was a staying third to Sublime Beauty at the Curragh and should be up to this test.
The Persian Bold filly, Persica, a staying second at Roscommon to Major Crisis, now wears blinkers and may repay support in the The Laois Maiden, in which Masafiya, brought down in an apprentice event at the Curragh, looks a real danger.
The distance of the Carey's Cottage Handicap Chase may be a shade on the short side for Anabatic, but he is a talented chaser. and is class should see him through against Fiftysevenchannels.
Former trainer Ken Bailey, the father of Kim Bailey, has died after a short illness at the age of 81. He began training in 1948 and sent out over 200 winners before handing over his licence to Kim in 1978. His best horse was Mac Joy, the winner of 11 races, including the Spa Hurdle and Broadway Chase at successive Cheltenham Festivals in 1958 and 1959.
Champion Hurdle winner Collier Bay may warm up for his jumps campaign with a run on the Flat this weekend. Trainer Jim Old has entered the six-year-old for the Group Three Perpetual St Simon Stakes at Newbury.
