Aidan O'Brien has trimmed his overnight entry of eight down to two for Saturday's £200,000 G1 Vertem Futurity at Doncaster, Europe's final juvenile Group 1 contest of the season. TDN Rising Star and G2 Golden Fleece S. victor Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) is the mount of Ryan Moore and has been allocated stall six for the one-mile test. He is set to be joined by Navan maiden winner Salt Lake City (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who will depart from the eight box. The home defence is spearheaded by John and Thady Gosden's G3 Autumn S. runner-up Epictetus (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), another TDN Rising Star who has drawn post seven. Ballydoyle also sends a contingent of three for the two Group 1 contests at Saint-Cloud, with Espionage (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) set to tackle the one-mile G1 Criterium International earlier in the afternoon and Adelaide River (Ire) (Australia {GB}) and Covent Garden (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) declared for the 10-furlong G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. TDN Rising Star and G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere third Breizh Sky (Fr) (Pedro The Great) leads the home defence in the former contest while just two French-trained runners–Strako (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) and Sylphid (GB) (Zoffany {Ire})–line up against a seven-strong overseas challenge in the latter.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
