Sunday preview

Sunday sees a swing in the momentum towards the more meaningful Flat action of 2024, with Leopardstown--which has to survive an early-morning inspection--and ParisLongchamp staging a host of Classic trials. Ballydoyle's wheels are really set in motion at the former venue, with several of their promising 3-year-olds ready to be unleashed in the card's trio of preps including the 10-furlong G3 P.W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax S. It is in that early Derby pointer that Rosegreen's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud third Illinois (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and impressive course maiden-winning TDN Rising...

Sunday's G1 Grosser Allianz Preis von Bayern, Europe's final Group 1 contest of the season, has been reduced to a final field of four with Godolphin's likely favourite Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) having been withdrawn after final declarations were confirmed earlier in the week. Andre Fabre trainee Junko (GB) (Intello {Ger}), a dual Group 3 winner who ran third in this term's G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, faces a domestic team of three in the 12-furlong Munich feature, headed by recent G1 Preis von Europa heroine India (Ger) (Adlerflug...

   Following the week's high-class activity, Sunday is more low-key as Deauville's August Festival wraps up with the historic G2 Grand Prix de Deauville where the Wertheimers' G3 Prix de Reux winner and G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud third Junko (GB) (Intello {Ger}) sets the standard. Third last year, Gerard Augustin-Normand and the Moussac Family's Fenelon (Fr) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) looks to have improved in the interim and comes to Normandy with confidence sky-high followings wins in Lyon Parilly's Listed Prix Bedel and Listed Grand Prix de Lyon. Classy old...

So far, the dazzling TDN Rising Star Ramatuelle (Justify) has ruled the roost among the fillies of her native France and it is time to go up the ladder again in Sunday's six-furlong G2 Prix Robert Papin at Chantilly. Successful in her opening salvo and the G3 Prix du Bois by a cumulative margin of 9 1/2 lengths at this venue, Infinity Nine Horses' Christopher Head trainee was denied in between by fellow TDN Rising Star and Listed Prix Roland de Chambure winner Beauvatier (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) in...

Outbattled at Newmarket, The Aga Khan's Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) returns to The Curragh for what could prove ample compensation in Sunday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas. Unable to provide Dermot Weld with that elusive 1000 Guineas victory, the G1 Moyglare S.-winning TDN Rising Star bids to give her trainer a sixth of these. "She was a bit tired after the race, but she travelled home on the ferry and came home well and then she has picked up nicely and we've been pleased with her," her trainer said. "It...

ParisLongchamp stages its penultimate autumnal farewell on Sunday, with the G1 Prix Royal-Oak the last pattern race to be staged at the prestigious Bois de Boulogne venue which draws its curtains on Thursday. There is no stand-out this year and the main protagonists are a notch or two below the likes of Vazirabad (Fr) (Manduro {Ger}), Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire} or even the sadly-lost 2021 hero Scope (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), but there is Bertrand Milliere's popular Iresine (Fr) by Vazirabad's sire whose three runs here include wins in last year's...

While the world holds it breath for the upcoming Arc weekend, Sunday's action is relatively low-key with Cologne's G1 Preis von Europa the main attraction. Won last year by the rampant Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}), the 12-furlong test is a competitive affair this time with Godolphin's Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) looking to emulate her by adding this to his success in Hoppegarten's G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin Aug. 14. Last year's third Sisfahan (Fr) (Isfahan {Ger}) re-enters the fray and along with Sammarco (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) boosts the line-up...