GREAT WHITE HOPE!
CONNECTIONS of White Birch are keeping their fingers crossed today’s curragh meeting goes ahead to allow last season’s Derby third to make his reappearance in the Tote.ie Alleged Stakes.
Winner of the Ballysax Stakes on heavy ground at Leopardstown 12 months ago, John Joseph Murphy’s colt went on to finish a close second to The Foxes in the Dante at York before picking up the bronze medal behind Auguste Rodin in the premier Classic at Epsom in June.
The grey failed to fire in the Irish Derby on his next start but rounded off his season with a close-up fourth in a Group Three on Irish Champions Weekend and George Murphy, assistant to his father, views this 10f contest as a suitable starting point for his fouryear-old campaign.
“We’re getting an awful lot of rain here, I don’t know what they’re getting in the Curragh, but I would imagine it will be the same,” he said. “It will be loose ground and he’ll more than likely run if it goes ahead.
“He’ll definitely come on for it. Everything has been going well, we probably would have liked to have got him on the grass a couple more times, but other than that, we’re happy with him.
“We’ll make a plan for what’s next.”
White Birch is the highest-rated horse in a nine-strong entry list, with Noel Meade fielding a pair of multiple course winners in Lafayette and Helvic Dream.
Lafayette has struck gold at the home of Irish Flat racing on four occasions, with Helvic Dream a three-time course winner, most notably claiming Group One honours in the 2021 Tattersalls Gold Cup.
Maxux, who carries the colours of Spanish footballer Alvaro Odriozola, has won twice from four previous starts for Joseph O’brien and was last seen plundering a Group Three prize at Fairyhouse in September.
“She looks like she handles soft ground and that is what it is going to be at the weekend,” said O’brien.
Nice
“It looks a nice starting point for her.
“We’re just hoping for a nice run and hope it’s a nice starting point. At this time of the season, it’s all about a platform that she can build on.”
Aidan O’brien won four of the last six Alleged Stakes and this year relies on Greenland, while Crypto Force makes his stable debut for Adrian Murray, having been off-track since his the 2022 Beresford Stakes win.
Mashhoor (Johnny Murtagh), The Shadow Lingers (Luke Comer) and Village Voice (Jessica Harrington) are other the hopefuls.
ALLEGED STAKES LOOKS A GREAT STARTING POINT FOR BIRCH