It is a royal affair at the Curragh on Saturday as Royal Scotsman and Hi Royal head the market ahead of the Irish 2000 Guineas.
At 2.87 with William Hill, Royal Scotsman is the favourite of the 11 runners for the 1 mile contest for three-year-olds, worth €285,000 to the winner.
Trained by Paul & Oliver Cole, Royal Scotsman finished third in the British equivalent at Newmarket at the start of the month in his first run of the season.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 25th, 3:00 P.M. (BST)
Last season he was second in the Group 1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, meaning the Group 2 Richmond Stakes at Goodwood remains the biggest win of his career. Jamie Spencer takes the ride from usual jockey Jim Crowley.
One place better in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket was Hi Royal, but he is only second favourite at 5.00.
That is down to him going off at 126.00, so bookmakers are still wary of the run a few weeks ago being a one-off.
That was Oisin Murphy’s first ride on Kevin Ryan’s entrant, who had only ever won a Class 5 novice race before that impressive performance.
Hi Royal actually shares joint-second favouritism with Paddington, who will be ridden by Ryan Moore.
A winner of three of his four races, two of which have come at the Curragh, Paddington warmed up for this perfectly by winning a one mile race on Saturday’s course. The best-fancied of Aidan O’Brien’s trio of entries, this will be his first graded race.
Continuing the royal theme is the last of the four main chances, Proud And Regal at 6.00. He is trained by O’Brien’s 24-year-old son Donnacha and gave him one of his biggest wins as a trainer so far in the Grade 1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud.
Gavin Ryan was on board that day, as he will be tomorrow, and was for a third place in a Derby trial at Leopardstown this month.
Proud And Regal’s owners also have Cairo (15.00) trained by O’Brien senior, who was tenth of 15 in the UAE Derby when going off favourite. At the same price is Galeron who was fourth in the Newmarket 2000 Guineas and will be ridden by Colin Keane for the first time.
Quar Shamar (21.00) took victory at Dundalk on the all-weather this season, his only previous outing being an 11th-place at the Curragh in September. Charyn (23.00) was eighth at Newmarket and is expected to have a similar placing again tomorrow.
Age Of Kings (26.00) and Bold Discovery (41.00) cannot be completely discounted, but Alexander John (301.00) probably can.
