Fascinating Clash In The Desmond

Thursday's G3 Bahrain Turf Club Desmond Stakes at Leopardstown sees the return of Ylang Ylang (GB) (Frankel {GB}) following her disappointing effort in the Oaks, but this will be no soft reintroduction for Ballydoyle's G1 Fillies' Mile winner with fellow TDN Rising Star Galen (GB) (Gleneagles {Ire}) lying in wait. Back at a mile for her comeback, having been injured at Epsom, Ylang Ylang was previously fifth in the 1,000 Guineas and that would normally be a standard-setting performance in this type of race but Galen has caught up quick and looked a class act with successes at The Curragh and Killarney by a cumulative margin of 20 lengths. Trainer Joseph O'Brien said, “He's stepping up, but he has earned that and he is coming off the back of two very good wins. Even for a group race, it looks a very hot race, but we're looking forward to the step up in class with him.”