I Can Lan Stakes for Coolmore

I CAN FLY should stamp her class on today’s Group 2 Lanwades Stud Stakes at the Curragh.

Aidan O’brien’s four-year-old filly, reappearing just seven days after finishing sixth to Mustashry in the Lockinge at Newbury, boasts an identical rating to chief danger One Master and, in receipt of 3lb, might have the edge.

An easy winner of a minor event at Dundalk on her 2019 debut, I Can Fly failed to make an impact in the Dubai Turf, won by Japanese ace Almond Eye, in Meydan in March but shaped with plenty of promise on her return to European action last week, when, slowly away, she was beaten little more than four lengths.

Last season, I Can Fly went within a neck of Roaring Lion in the QEII at Ascot in October and a return to anything like that form should suffice today.

Seasonal debutante One Master, narrow winner of the Prix de la Foret last autumn, is the obvious danger but, with a Group 1 penalty, might struggle against the Ballydoyle filly.

The Group 2 Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes looks more difficult to solve. And, despite the claims of Johnny Murtagh’s recent listed winner Urban Beat and ultra-reliable Ardhoomey, representing Ger Lyons, I’ll side with British raider Mr Lupton, a Group 3 winner at Newbury last season and sure to be primed by Richard Fahey for this challenge on his seasonal debut.

Elsewhere on the card, Joseph O’brien’s Latin Five, which came home strongly to finish second to Rebel Tale on his debut at Navan last week, sets the form standard in the opening two-year-old maiden. With that run under his belt, the Camacho colt sets a decent standard. And it will probably take a smart newcomer to lower his colours.