Music in fine tune as Aid targets Gowran glory
O’BRIEN’S GIRL CAN BE A BOX OFFICE SUCCESS
THE Aidan O’brien-trained filly Music Box looks the short-priced banker on today’s eight-race flat card in Gowran Park.
The daughter of Invincible Spirit made a controversial debut at Dundalk in late March, when finishing an eye-catching third to stable-companion Asking. She then started favourite for a Leopardstown maiden but, having raced keenly, up with the pace, she ultimately had to settle for the runner-up spot, beaten three and a half lengths, by Irishcorrespondent. That colt advertised the form with a recent Curragh success and will take his chance against Churchill in Saturday’s Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas while the form has also been boosted by the subsequent winners So You Think (third) and Ma Fee Heela ( fifth). Drawn low, and, significantly, wearing a hood for the first time, Music Box stands out in this company and looks a likely winner for Ana O’brien, already battling with her brother Donnacha in a race for the apprentice title. Dermot Weld’s Dabulena, winner of her maiden at the Curragh last time, gets the nod over Ballydoyle filly Elizabeth Browning in the Ladies Day June 24th Fillies race. And Escondida, locally trained by Jim Bolger, might build on last week’s fourth to Not A Whisper at the Curragh in the second division of the 45-65 handicap. Meanwhile, ante-post favourite for the race in recent weeks, Seventh Heaven has been ruled out of next week’s Investec Coronation Cup in Epsom by her trainer Aidan O’brien. Winner of both the Darley Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks last season, and successful in the Jockey Club Stakes in Newmarket on her seasonal debut this month, the four-year-old filly has met with a setback and will not return to action until the autumn, according to O’brien who will now rely on globe-trotters Highland Reel and Idaho in the Coronation, on Oaks day, at Epsom. And O’brien has left both Acapulco, successful at the Curragh recently in her first start for Ballydoyle, and Washington DC in Saturday’s Group 2 Temple Stakes in Haydock Park. On the same card, Ger Lyons has left both Psychedelic Funk, second to Caravaggio at Naas on Sunday, and Medicine Jack in the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes.