IT’S SET TO GET FUNKY AS KILLARNEY ACTION BEGINS

THE Ger Lyons-trained Psychedelic Funk sets the standard in the listed Vincent O’brien Ruby Stakes, centrepiece of the opening stage of Killarney’s four-day August meeting.

A dual-winner as a two-year-old before finishing third to Caravaggio in the Coventry at Royal Ascot, he reached a rating of 104 last season.

Last time out he tried a mile for the first time in a conditions event in Naas and, in a strongly-run affair, he came through to score by four lengths from Panama Hat with Captain Joy third.

Trainer Lyons (above) is now seeking stakes-race success over an extended mile for the Choisir colt. And, having won on yielding to soft ground last year, Colin Keane’s mount will hopefully handle today’s soft surface.

A low draw will help and he’s taken to get the better of Jessica Harrington’s Red Label and the Dermot Weld-trained filly Raymonda. Weld provides the nap in the shape of Aljunood in the Pitchsupplies.ie Maiden over an extended mile. This fellow, third to Moritzburg at Listowel on his second start, stepped up when filling the runner-up berth behind Xenobia at Leopardstown in June.

Returning after a two-month break and wearing hood for the first time, the Weld-trained gelding should take plenty of beating.

Weld’s 97-rated filly Sea Swift is well-treated by the conditions of the concluding Irish Examiner Race but her recent efforts have been unconvincing. Preference is for progressive Ballydoyle three-year-old Abyssinian.