IT’S NATION ONCE AGAIN
It looks Sioux good four Aid on high-class card at Naas
The Ballydoyle trainer looks to have every chance of notching up a fourtimer on this high class card, with centre stage going to one of his star juveniles from last season.
Sioux Nation didn’t run anywhere near his best on his return to action at Navan last month when he was fourth to The Broghie Man in a Listed sprint.
However, the ground that day was much slower than ideal for this colt and it was also his first run of the season.
As is the case with many of his trainer’s three-year-olds, Sioux Nation can be expected to improve dramatically from that reappearance.
He will also relish switching back to fast ground as he produced his best efforts on a sound surface last summer.
A winner of the Norfolk Stakes and the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes last year, Sioux Nation should take all the beating if he returns to his best.
The Navan winner The Broghie Man is in the line up but he might just prefer slower ground to what he will face here.
Perhaps a bigger danger might be the Navan runner-up Speak In Colours, who shaped up very well on his debut for Joseph O’brien that day.
Earlier, O’brien is expected to win the Listed Rochestown Stakes with the exciting Sergei Prokofiev.
This two-year-old progressed from a promising Dundalk debut to win a Navan conditions race in some style last month.
The manner of that Navan display suggested Sergei Prokofiev is every inch a Royal Ascot type of juvenile.
In the two-year-old fillies Listed race O’brien should also strike with So Perfect, who made a winning start to her career at Navan.
She only got home by a short head that day but showed a lot of class to do so and she had more to spare than the winning margin would suggest.
Broadway can kick off the four-timer by landing the opening maiden where she drops in grade having shown up well to reach the frame in a Group 3 last time.
The day’s other Listed contest can fall to Jessica Harrington’s Brother Bear who shaped up well to finish a close third in the Tetrarch Stakes a fortnight ago.
In the first of the handicaps Raphael is a sporting choice to deliver on some reasonably promising runs last season.
He is closely matched with the useful Bond Street, who is sure to be among the market leaders.