Eight Declared For Saturday's Juddmonte Irish Oaks

Aidan O'Brien is well-represented in a domestic Classic yet again on Saturday with half of the eight-strong field declared for The Curragh's G1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks from Ballydoyle. All are daughters of Galileo (Ire), with Evie Stockwell's G1 Epsom Oaks runner-up Ennistymon (Ire) heading the quartet under Wayne Lordan. Remarkably, seven of the eight hail from the Sadler's Wells sire line, with the past Coolmore great also the damsire of the sole exception, SBA Racing Limited's June 21 G3 Blue Wind S. third Yaxeni (Fr) (Maxios {GB}). The latter is one of a duo from the Ger Lyons stable alongside Even So  (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who beat the Ballydoyle runner Laburnum (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the July 4 Listed Naas Oaks Trial and they make up a four-strong Coolmore-owned contingent also featuring the Blue Wind runner-up Snow (Ire), another of the Galileos who is a full-sister to Kew Gardens (Ire). Two of the operation's more prominent entries, the G1 Prix de Diane first and third Fancy Blue (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Peaceful (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) were taken out on Thursday.

Jessie Harrington relies solely on the Kellys' Cayenne Pepper (Ire) (Australia {GB}), who was runner-up to Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Pretty Polly S. over 10 furlongs here on June 28. Shane Foley is keen  to tackle the power of Rosegreen and co. “I've always loved Cayenne Pepper. I know I said last year I thought she might be the best of Jessie's juvenile fillies and I hope I'm right,” he told the Racing Post. “She has turned inside out in the last couple of weeks. To be perfectly honest, I was very worried about her at the start of the year. She wasn't working well and she didn't look great either. I feared the worst. I wondered would she come back at all but, thankfully, she has. She goes on any ground, she's very straightforward and it's all systems go.”