Our columnist previews Saturday's action at the Curragh, a card which features the Paddy Power Pretty Polly Stakes.
The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby weekend kicks off on Friday night at the Curragh, and like in the UK we’ve had high temperatures all week.
There is the threat of some rain particularly on Saturday, which could have a bearing on that card but in general I’d expect good ground for the majority of the meeting.
We have a number of horses backing up quickly from Royal Ascot over the course of the meeting including a couple of very nice two-year-olds on Saturday.
Providing they haven’t left their runs behind in Berkshire you’d expect the Aidan O’Brien-trained pair of Confucius and Sun Goddess to take the world of beating in the Anglesey and Airlie Stud Stakes respectively.
They should go and collect if at the top of their games. The former ran a good race behind stablemate Great Barrier Reef on the Coventry Stakes and should be too good for his rivals on Saturday – as should the filly.
Her odds are very tight as you’d expect as she sets a very clear form standard off the back of her Albany Stakes second.
Who's the best each-way bet in the Pretty Polly?
The feature race on Saturday is the Paddy Power Pretty Polly Stakes where we get the first real clash of the generations this season and it’s tremendously exciting to have the impressive Betfred Oaks winner Thundering On rocking up.
She was so good at Epsom, and while she drops back to ten furlongs, that’s the distance she was ultra-impressive at in winning the Salsabil Stakes on her final run before the Oaks.
It’s quite significant that three weeks’ on from her Classic success Joseph O’Brien is electing to run her here and it should be remembered that her dam, Thundering Nights, won this race.
With a sizeable weight-for-age allowance of 12 pounds at this time of the season, Thundering On, who looked like she’d jumped in at the furlong pole at Epsom, you’d be disappointed if she was beaten.
She looks like a potential superstar three-year-old for all Estrange and Red Letter bring good form to the table too.
The former proved when second to Minnie Hauk in the race last season that she can go on a better surface for all she’s at home when it’s softer but if there is an each-way bet in the race it’s probably Red Letter.
She’s a double-figure price with some firms and with three places on offer, looks a solid selection given she ran so well in the Middleton Stakes at York last time.
Two bets in the Saturday handicaps
Elsewhere on the card I like the look of Rion Rubette in the Neville Homes Summer Fillies’ Handicap at 14:45.
On a line through some of the fillies she beat at Gowran Park last time she looks overpriced at the time of writing.
Fixation has to be on your radar for the Reserve Ladies Derby at 16:30 too.
He hasn’t been missed in the betting market since joining Johnny Murtagh but with cheekpieces on here he is highly interesting. He shaped well in a handicap over course-and-distance last time and the booking of George Benson, who’s had success for the stable before, is another positive for his chance.
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