By Tom Frary
While the racing world awaits the confirmed line-up for one of the most exciting runnings of the King George in decades, the aperitif is served by Leopardstown on Thursday with some vital staging posts for the 2024 Classic generation. While the card's feature is the G2 Romanised Minstrel S., in which the 3-year-old fillies Zarinsk (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) and Tarawa (Ire) (Shamardal) look to have an edge on the older brigade, the most intriguing race is the G3 Jockey Club of Turkey Silver Flash S. for the fillies because that's where Ballydoyle's much-vaunted TDN Rising Star Ylang Ylang (GB) (Frankel {GB}) goes. At 1.5million gns the second-highest-priced filly at last year's Book 1, the relative of the international luminaries Viva Pataca (GB) (Marju {Ire}) and Laughing (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) was professional on debut when beating two subsequent winners in a Curragh maiden over this seven-furlong trip and bids to become the 13th winner for her stable which always points its leading 1000 Guineas and Oaks hopefuls here.
Big price tag. Big reputation. Big talent! 👀
Frankel filly Ylang Ylang coist 1.5 million guineas and is so good that they named her twice! She shone on her debut @curraghrace yesterday @Ballydoyle pic.twitter.com/CzZxmJ7mST
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) July 1, 2023
Mysteries To Unfold…
Heading the opposition to Ylang Ylang is the Niarchos's Cork maiden winner Mysteries (Ire) (No Nay Never), a Donnacha O'Brien-trained granddaughter of the 1999 GI E. P. Taylor S. heroine Insight (Fr) (Sadler's Wells) who was a full-sister to the Irish 2000 Guineas winner Saffron Walden (Fr) and half to the leading sprinter Dolphin Street (Fr). “Ylang Ylang looks like a smart filly, but they all have to prove themselves when they step up in class, so we'll learn a lot,” Donnacha said. ” The Debutante and Moyglare are the logical next steps with a filly like that. We will probably be running into dad's fillies the whole way along the way, but we have to meet them eventually.”
Like Islandsinthestream…
The O'Brien theme continues in the G3 Japan Racing Association Tyros S., which looks more wide-open in the absence of a Ballydoyle juvenile running at cramped odds. This has always been a significant place to look for the following year's Guineas and Derby stars, but whether there is an Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a Churchill (Ire) or Gleneagles (Ire) lurking is probably unlikely. The fact that Ryan Moore has opted for the G2 July S. disappointment Mountain Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never) does not inspire confidence in the yard's Naas maiden winner Henry Adams (Ire) (No Nay Never), who is blinkered here, so the answer could be Joseph's Curragh maiden scorer Islandsinthestream (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}).
Soprano Ready To Star…
At Sandown earlier in the afternoon, the Listed European Bloodstock News EBF Star S. offers Highclere Thoroughbred Racing's G3 Albany S. third Soprano (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) the chance to compensate for missing out on the G2 Duchess of Cambridge S., but there are a few potential flies in the ointment including the Ollie Sangster-trained Newbury novice scorer Shuwari (Ire), a daughter of New Bay (GB) carrying the silks of the sire's high-class Saffron Beach (Ire).
Harry Herbert has some big plans on the horizon if Soprano can get through this test with reputation intact. “If she were to be successful on Thursday, we would be looking at races possibly like the [G1] Moyglare in Ireland, you have got the Newmarket race over seven, a Group 2 [the Rockfel S.],” he said. “She has such a beautiful action but we do think a trip up to seven furlongs would really suit her, so it makes sense at this stage. Then we will see where we stand. Going over seven furlongs was pretty much the chat from William Buick at Royal Ascot. He said that if the pace had been better, she probably would have gone pretty close, but definitely he felt she was crying out to go further. She is a lovely filly, with plenty of size and scope to her, so she should get better as she gets older.”
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