Curragh Sunday Preview - 18/07/21

Impressively bred from His Highness The Aga Khan's Studs, Kerkiya, represents trainer Johnny Murtagh who is looking to gain his first win for the powerhouse ownership.

Karakoul, another of Murtagh's 2yo's from the stud, improved from a 7th placed debut finish to finish a neck 2nd on Monday and this can be taken as a good sign of things to come from the partnerships 2yo filly who was a much more impressive debutant than her counterpart.

The daughter of Siyouni raced over C&D on debut and was slow into stride, racing from the rear before keeping on strongly in the latter stages of the race.

That past race experience already sets her apart than exactly half of this field and she's definitely going to improve from that prior effort.

We saw Order Of Australia winning over as far as 12f last season so its fairly significant to see Aidan O'Brien drop the runner down to the 7f distance.

The son of Australia was a shock 40/1 winner of the Grade 1 Breeders Cup Mile in Keenland on his penultimate run last season, however was unable to follow up when finishing 6th in the Hong Kong Group 1 next time out.

He finished 8th on his seasonal return in the Queen Anne on an Ascot course not suited to his prominent run style and he's now more than entitled to come on for that run; dropping back down in grade and distance upon conditions seemingly looking to suit.

Leading claims.

Taking history to repeat itself here with Dermot Weld having won this race the last twice in 2019 & 2020, most recently with another of The Aga Khan's fillies.

Dermot Weld, on a hat-trick bid, will only look to be represented in the race by his best and despite not showing too much after racing freely and being slightly short of room last time out on debut, its taken that his entrant, Shabaya, should improve vastly for the experience.

Impressively bred out of Teofilo, the booking of Irish champion flat jockey, Colin Keane, further signifies intentions.

Flagged, for Ger Lyons, is impressively bred out of multiple Group 1 winners and was an emphatic winner over the 8f trip on just his 2nd start ahead of Aidan O'Brien's now 101 rated Galileo filly, Friendly, at Limerick.

This signifies Flagged's potential off a current mark of 84 and despite being done by soft ground next time out, the runner again showed her high level of ability over 9f at Leopardstown before just fading into 2nd in the final furlong off a big weight in the handicap.

The drop back to 8f looks sure to suit, as does the good ground and her lowly race weight for the affair.

Last time out and past winning jockey, Colin Keane, is sure to know how what needs to be done to steer this one home.

Create Belief was a highly impressive 5 1/2 length winner of the Sandringham Stakes at Ascot and she's taken to follow up on that win with another big effort here up at 9f.

Despite her best form coming over soft/heavy, progeny of Awtaad quite often prefer better conditions and the manner of her wide margin victory upon heavy, tells us that she may just improve for the increased distance and faster ground.

She fits the bill with 10 of the past 12 winners of this race being 100+ rated whilst Jonny Murtagh is in fantastic form currently and can look to continue that run here.

Eddie & Patrick Harty's 3yo gelding, Wild Dollar, has produced a piece of fascinatingly strong form from his maiden win last time out.

The son of Zoffany won the C&D race in the stewards room when running on well in the latter stages before getting bumped and finishing a shoulder 2nd.

Interestingly, the horse given 2nd (previously 1st) went on to win next time out at Killarney on Monday, the 4th home won next time out at Navan and the 6th home, who was 14 lengths off the pace that day, improved to finish a head 2nd at Tipperary next time out.

Entitled to have improved from that run and in training now since late May, Wild Dollar may just sneak up with a big run in this.