Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CESAREWITCH IS ON SHOPPING LIST
Zoe can take a step closer to bagging Newmarket target
PRINCESS Zoe must be strongly-fancied to earn a second feature-race pot at the Galway Festival by capturing today’s Galway Shopping Centre (Premier) Handicap.
This grey mare has come a long way since Tony Mullins sourced her in Germany, chasing home Walking On Glass in Navan on her Irish debut before annexing a couple of notable handicaps.
Ridden by Jody Townend and raised 6lb for her Navan run, Zoe bolted-up in the Ladies Derby at the Curragh beating Tara Dylan by five lengths.
And she paid the price, getting a 13lb hike in the ratings which, ironically was just enough to earn her a place in the line-up for Monday’s Connacht Hotel Amateur Handicap here in Ballybrit.
Ridden by Finny Maguire, she came through strongly to hit the front inside the final furlong and beat Run For Mary by a length and a quarter.
Mullins has his eye on the English Cesarewitch as an autumn target for Princess Zoe. But, with a rating of 90, following a 7lb rise for Monday’s win, wouldn’t be enough to get her into the Newmarket marathon.
Today, having been given the all-clear in midweek by her trainer, she has an opportunity to bag another major prize and jump further up the ratings, to edge close to a place in the Cesarewitch line-up by emulating Whiskey Sour, who completed this same Galway double in 2017.
In-form apprentice Joey Sheridan’s 5lb claim will help counter-act some of her extra poundage and, likely to come from off the pace again, Zoe should be tough to beat.
But this will be tough in a field headed by Halimi, second to Rayounpour in a recent premier handicap at the Curragh.
Michael Halford’s War Diary, fourth in this race last year and second to stable-companion Rayounpour in the Cork Derby, his first run for his new trainer, is another for all short-lists along with Jessica Harrington’s Curragh scorer Lynwood Gold and the O’brien-trained Memorabilis and Emperor Of the Sun, although no three-year-old has won the race since 2001.