There are a pair of intriguing juvenile Group 2s at the Curragh on Saturday and Racing Post tipster Robbie Wilders provides his three best bets at the meeting.
2.35 Curragh
Kazakdaria @ 5/2
1pt win
3.10 Curragh
Hans Andersen @ 9/4
1pt win
3.45 Curragh
Zoinnocent @ 11/2
1pt win
The Aga Khan has a strong hand in the 1m4f fillies and mares' handicap (2.35) and probably has the answer with either Kerkiyra or Kazakdaria.
Kerkiyra took a while to get off the mark but did so in good style here last time over two furlongs shorter. However, I'm not convinced with her over this trip, whereas we know Kazakdaria will stay.
The Dermot Weld-trained filly's third to Ebor favourite Earl Of Tyrone two starts back on her seasonal return over 1m6f looks red-hot form. Earl Of Tyrone is rated 16lb higher after a subsequent Listed win and Moon Daisy has risen 9lb in the ratings after a few excellent efforts in better company.
While Kazakdaria was a beaten favourite when fifth over this course and distance last time, that still represented a career best on Racing Post Ratings and this race lacks the same depth. She could be in a different league off a mark of 87.
Aidan O'Brien has landed seven of the last nine runnings of the Group 2 Futurity Stakes (3.10) and three of those were earned with subsequent Classic winners, so this is definitely a race to pay attention to.
Ryan Moore has been booked to ride once-raced maiden scorer Aesop’s Fables but that might not be the correct decision.
Aesop's Fables lacks experience and boasts more of a sprint pedigree. I'm not sure about him over this seven-furlong trip.
Conversely Hans Andersen, who landed his maiden at the second attempt having almost scored on his debut, is preferred under Seamie Heffernan.
The Frankel colt showed the benefit of his first outing with an impressive success over this course and distance last time and controlled things throughout.
The experience advantage he holds over his stablemate could prove decisive and he can enter the conversation for races like the National Stakes and Dewhurst.
O'Brien has less of a stranglehold on the fillies equivalent, the Group 2 Debutante Stakes (3.45), and has failed to hit the target since Magical scored in 2017.
That losing streak might come to an end with the unbeaten Meditate, who landed a Group 3 at Naas before winning the Albany Stakes in impressive style at Royal Ascot.
However, like Moore's Futurity mount Aesop's Fables, Meditate is by No Nay Never and still has something to prove over seven furlongs.
I'd rather side with a filly we know gets the trip and the selection is Zoinnocent. This Zoffany filly is a sister to the Joseph O'Brien stable's smart middle-distance colt Hannibal Barca and has stepped up considerably with each run.
She looked all at sea on her debut before landing a Gowran Park maiden in good style, and was then given too much to do upped in class in a Group 3 last time.
Zoinnocent had to mount her challenge widest of all around the home turn at Leopardstown and finished quickly in second to give the highly regarded Never Ending Story a scare.
Zoinnocent would have learned plenty from that and can give O'Brien a third successive victory in the race to justify her Group 1 entries down the line.
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