July Cup fourth Art Power is set to make a swift return to action in the Barberstown Castle Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday.
Tim Easterby’s charge has already won three times at the home of Irish Flat racing, landing back-to-back renewals of the Group Three Renaissance Stakes in 2021 and 2022 as well as striking gold in the Group Two Greenlands Stakes earlier this season.
The six-year-old was well beaten in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot but showed his true colours back on an easier surface at Newmarket last weekend, finishing just under three lengths behind fellow Yorkshire-trained speedster Shaquille.
Art Power will be sent back into battle just seven days later as he bids for a first win over five furlongs since plundering the Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap at the Royal meeting three years ago.
“He ran an absolute cracker in the July Cup, and he leaves on Thursday night for Ireland. He loves it there, it’s down to five furlongs but we think he’ll run a good race,” said Easterby’s son and assistant William.
“I think he prefers cut in the ground but it’s not vital. He’s run well on good to firm in the past, but slower ground does just slow the others down.
“He wasn’t born far from the Curragh and it’s an amazing thing, horses for courses, it seems to work.
“We love training in Yorkshire and we’ve lots of horses who like the tracks in Yorkshire, but when you find one who likes it somewhere, you run them there.”
Pascal Bary is dreaming of finally getting his hands on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe trophy having seen Feed The Flame become a leading contender for Europe’s richest middle-distance contest.
The son of Kingman grabbed plenty of attention when winning ParisLongchamp’s Prix de Ferrieres with real ease earlier in the campaign and as a result was sent off one of the main players for the Prix du Jockey Club last month.
He was only able to finish fourth in the Chantilly Classic as Jean-Claude Rouget’s Ace Impact stole all the headlines.
However, a step up in trip to 12 furlongs saw him back to his imperious best in the Grand Prix de Paris, where he proved he was a proper Group One performer by swooping late to down Irish Derby runner-up Adelaide River and John and Thady Gosden’s Oaks winner Soul Sister.
“He should do well in the autumn and he will stay at a mile and a half now,” said Bary.
“He doesn’t make any effort during the race, he can go very well and then accelerate.
“The reason he finished fourth in the Jockey Club was he had to fight too early, it was too fast for him. When he has time, he has a very good turn of foot.”
Feed The Flame is a best priced 14-1 for the Arc on October 1 and with Bary envisaging typical autumnal ground at ParisLongchamp as a positive for his charge, he will tune up for his date with destiny by running at the track in the Group Two Prix Niel on September 10.
“He will go for the Prix Niel and then the Arc,” continued Bary.
“In the Prix Niel he will have to fight with Ace Impact and he is a very, very nice horse. Hopefully over this distance we can get our revenge.
“Then in the Arc, I don’t know, we will have to take on Ace Impact and some good horses coming from England and Ireland. He should be a bit better in soft ground.
“It will come quick, it is less than two months, it will soon be tomorrow.”
Kihavah may drop in trip for the Sky Bet York Stakes on Saturday week ahead of a potential crack at the Ebor next month.
Classic-winning trainer Adrian Keatley feels his stable star, who has a handicap mark of 98, may have to win another race to ensure a place in the Sky Bet-sponsored feature handicap.
Having won his previous four races, including once over hurdles, Kihavah finished a game second to Saeed bin Suroor’s Live Your Dream at Newmarket last week.
“We might run Kihavah at York as a prep run for the Ebor as he’s short a couple of pounds on 98, he might need another couple to make sure he gets in,” said Keatley, who won the 2016 Irish 1,000 Guineas with Jet Setting.
“He’s got his confidence back, he had a couple of issues with his wind in the past, which we’ve played around with, and we seem to have found the key to him now.
“It was a massive run last week at Newmarket but the rain came a bit soon as it just made it a bit loose. Half a mile from home I thought he had no chance, but he pulled it out of the bag again.
“He’s a very big horse, he was very lean when I got him but he seems to be holding his condition now and taking his training better. Hopefully if he gets into the Ebor, he could be a good representative for us.
“We were thinking of Market Rasen this weekend, but when you are talking of races like the Ebor being a possibility, we can always go back jumping later.
“He’s very much a top-of-the-ground horse and because the ground got so loose last week it was a harder race than expected, so that was another reason we missed Market Rasen this weekend.”
The Sky Bet York Stakes is on the final day of the Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival which gets under way on Friday at Pontefract and concludes at York on Saturday week.
Michael Dods reports his star filly Azure Blue to be none the worse following her disappointing performance in the July Cup on Saturday.
Having rounded off last season with back-to-back wins at Newmarket, the four-year-old picked up where she left off with a Listed success on the Rowley Mile in early May.
She subsequently got the better of multiple Group One winner Highfield Princess to land the Duke of York Stakes and as a result was among the leading contenders for last weekend’s Group One feature, but could only finish sixth of eight runners.
“She was on the wing, probably racing a bit keenly, but she’s come home fine,” said Dods.
“On the day she probably didn’t run her race, but she’s been fine since she came home anyway.”
The Darlington-based trainer is keen to let the dust settle before committing to future plans. Azure Blue’s big-race entries include the Nunthorpe at York, the Sprint Cup at Haydock and the Flying Five Stakes in Ireland.
“We’ll give her this week and see where we go next – we haven’t made any plans,” he added.
“One of the owners has gone on holiday so we’ll wait until they get back next week, discuss it with them and go from there.”
Equality will bid for a hat-trick when he takes a shot at the King George Qatar Stakes during the Qatar Goodwood Festival.
Owned by Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds, the five-year-old speedster dropped back to handicap company when scoring at Windsor on his penultimate start, before adding to his tally at Sandown in the Group Three Coral Charge
Connections were thrilled to get that first Group race victory under his belt at the Esher track and Equality will now head to the Sussex Downs for a contest handler Charlie Hills has won five times in the last six years thanks to Battaash (2017-2020) and Khaadem (2022).
“It’s really exciting and he was fantastic at Sandown,” said Sam Hoskins, racing manager for the owners.
“We kind of felt he had unfinished business at Group level and obviously there wasn’t much choice after his run at Windsor because he was up to a mark of 108.
“After Haydock earlier in the season our confidence was a bit dented, but the handicapper was good and let us drop back into handicap company and luckily he ran the same race as he did at Windsor at Sandown.”
He went on: “The plan is to go for the King George at Goodwood with him.
“He’s got a very high cruising speed and he should really enjoy a race like that, it’s really exciting.
“It’s going to be a hot race, Highfield Princess is probably going and a lot of other good sprinters will be heading there. It will be a red-hot affair”
There is further interest in the race for Hoskins in the form of Clive Cox’s Get Ahead, who also has the Group Two event in her sights.
Owned by Hot To Trot racing, for whom Hoskins also acts as racing manager, the four-year-old filly has enjoyed a fine season, scoring in the Cecil Frail at Haydock before being narrowly denied at Chantilly in the Prix du Gros-Chene.
She finished three lengths behind Equality when last seen in the Coral Charge, but Goodwood is poised to prove a more suitable venue for the daughter of Showcasing.
“She’s a cracking filly and things just didn’t go her way at Sandown,” continued Hoskins.
“She wants top of the ground and she is really interesting for Goodwood as she won over course and distance there last year beating Silky Wilkie.
“She has progressed again this season and will have a big each-way chance there hopefully.”
He added: “Both horses have had this as their aim and at the beginning of the season we thought if things go well and they progress as we hoped they might do, this is the race for them.
“They are not too dissimilar horses despite one being a gelding and one being a filly, and they are both horses with very high cruising speeds. You could run both of them over four furlongs if there was a race at that distance. It’s really exciting.”
Former India opening batsman Aakash Chopra has called for West Indies to be stripped of their Test-playing status. He believes that the team has been doing nothing in international cricket for a few years now and that they should be replaced by associate member teams from individual islands.
“They won’t be playing in the World Cup. In all three formats, they are lagging behind in the rankings. Eventually, there has to be a threshold,” Chopra argued during a question and answer session with Sportsekeeda.
“I have been talking about that tier system - promotion and relegation. Just because they are an erstwhile champion side, till when can you carry on with them as a Test-playing nation? The team, as such, is doing nothing.”
Chopra says that West Indies' lack of unity and coordination has been a major factor in their downfall, and that many top players prefer franchise cricket over representing West Indies.
“Their case is unique because they have separate islands. Their pitches are so slow. You saw it in Dominica and you will see it at Port of Spain as well. It’s not a bad idea. May be the island teams might play with more pride. All said and done, West Indies’ state of cricket is quite bad.
“The five fingers are split and everyone is thinking about themselves - be it Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua or Guyana. There is hardly any coordination. During their prime, Clive Lloyd kept them together. This team needs leadership, because it’s a scattered side. Every island nation has them own anthem. As it is, things were difficult and then players became T20 journeymen. The pride in playing for West Indies has reduced.”
Chopra's comments come at a time when West Indies are struggling both on and off the field. The team was recently hammered by India in the first Test in Dominica, and they are currently ranked ninth in the Test rankings. Chopra believes that the team needs to be shaken up, and that stripping them of their Test-playing status would be a wake-up call.
Chopra played 10 Tests for India between October 2003 and October 2004 scoring 437 runs at an average of 23.
Pyledriver is fully on course for the defence of his King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes crown following a racecourse gallop at Newbury on Wednesday morning.
Trained by William Muir and Chris Grassick, the six-year-old has won eight of his 19 starts, but has been blighted by injury setbacks which have kept him on the sidelines at key moments of his career.
He conquered German raider Torquator Tasso to land Ascot’s mid-summer showpiece 12 months ago, but was then not seen for 336 days before making a victorious return in the Hardwicke Stakes.
Training well since that Royal Ascot triumph, he came through one of the final pieces of his King George preparations with flying colours at Newbury, with the countdown now on for the July 29 Group One.
“He just did want we wanted and we were delighted with him,” said Muir.
“It was not a serious, hard gallop, it was just a day out really. He goes to Newbury, has a warm-up little canter and then covers the distance, that’s all. He did great.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed and we’re in good shape. Fingers crossed we’ll be there at Ascot.”
Pyledriver has won three of his four starts at Ascot, with two successes at the Royal meeting accompanying the King George he has on his CV.
However, Muir believes that rather than being a track specialist, Pyledriver is simply a top-class performer who has the capability to thrive in all conditions.
He added: “Everyone says he loves Ascot but that is because it is one of the only places where the races are that we have run him.
“He has only run once at York and he won, same at Haydock, he’s both a winner and second in Group Ones at Epsom. I just think he’s a good horse. The races at Ascot suit him and that’s why we’ve kept going back there really.
“He’s extremely versatile – he’s versatile on ground, he’s versatile on course. He’s not one of those that you worry yourself stupid about what’s going to happen with the weather, whatever happens, happens, and you just turn up.”
Muir also delivered a positive update about Pyledriver’s half-sister Shagpyle, who started off with an eyecatching win at Ascot before being tapped for toe by a useful operator at Haydock.
“She’s fine and as I said when she first ran, she won’t be a filly who has too many runs this year, probably a maximum of four,” said Muir.
“She’s in good form and her work is totally different from when she started. Before she wasn’t strong enough to quicken and she used to just gallop away. We knew she was nice but we never put her under any real pressure because she wasn’t strong enough. Now she’s galloping really well.
“Her first run was really good, but it was on soft ground and she just got into that relentless rhythm and she was better in it than the rest. Then we went to Haydock where it was top of the ground and she didn’t mind the ground, but anything with a turn of foot quickened up and got us at it.”
The daughter of Frankel could head to Doncaster or Deauville for her next outing, while Muir isn’t completely ruling out taking up her entry in the St Leger later in the season despite envisaging it will be next term before she is seen at her best.
“If she were to win her next race easily and the ground was soft, then we would have one more run in a nice race and we’ve entered her (in the Leger) just to see what happens,” continued Muir.
“She is just a transformed filly from how she started the season and next year we will be purring about her because she will be going long distances.
“That’s why the Leger distance will suit her because she will get the trip, so although it is a bit of a throwaway entry, if we got there and it’s soft ground, you just never know.”
Desert Crown remains in contention for the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes after producing a “pleasing” piece of work under Ryan Moore at Newmarket on Wednesday morning.
The Saeed Suhail-owned 2022 Derby winner was beaten narrowly by Hukum in the Brigadier Gerard at Sandown on his return to action in May following a year on the sidelines with an ankle injury.
Another minor setback prevented him from running in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and while subsequent scans proved negative, trainer Sir Michael Stoute suggested last week that he may not have enough time to line up in the all-aged showpiece at Ascot on Saturday week.
However, confidence in the camp is growing that the son of Nathaniel will take on this season’s English and Irish Derby winner Auguste Rodin, Epsom runner-up King Of Steel, last year’s King George winner Pyledriver and his Sandown conqueror Hukum in the Qipco-sponsored 12-furlong highlight after all.
The owner’s racing manager, Bruce Raymond, said: “He worked this morning and Ryan rode him.
“Michael was very pleased with him and I think there is a good chance he will go to Ascot.
“He worked nicely. It was a pleasing gallop. I can’t say he is certain for the race, but everyone was very happy with him. There’s a good chance he will go to Ascot.”
Desert Crown is currently a 10-1 chance with Coral for the King George, with Auguste Rodin their 9-4 favourite.
Make that three former high-profile FC Barcelona players now on Inter Miami.
The MLS club will sign veteran defender Jordi Alba, reuniting him with Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets.
Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas announced the move Tuesday, while also confirming Messi and Busquets will make their team debuts on Friday against Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup.
"He will debut on Friday," Mas said of Messi. "How much, when, what he does, that’s up to him and (coach Gerardo 'Tata' Martino)."
Messi and Busquets both participated in their first practice with Miami on Tuesday, three days after Messi officially signed a 2 1/2-year contract that will be worth between $50-60million per year.
Messi, who turned 36 years old last month, revealed on June 7 that he would be joining Miami after 11 years with Barca.
Inter Miami announced the addition of Busquets a few weeks later and then disclosed in late June that Martino, who coached Barcelona in 2013-14, would be the club's new head coach.
The 34-year-old Alba joined Barca in 2012, and helped the club to six La Liga titles, five Copa del Rey trophies and the Champions League in 2015.
In 458 appearances for Barcelona, he registered 19 goals and 91 assists.
He'll continue his career with an Inter Miami team that is in last place in the Eastern Conference and mired in an 11-match winless streak since its last victory on May 13.
Guyana is on course to retain the overall title at the ongoing Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Junior Championships, having already secured a number of individual medals, which speaks volumes of their current vein of form heading into the Team and Doubles segment of the tournament in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Guyanese team which last year got hands on the overall championship for the first time since 2015 –after surrendering the 2017 and 2019 editions to Barbados –are now hunting a 14th overall lien on the crown.
They once enjoyed a streak of 12-consecutive wins, which was ended by the Barbadians, but if their form is anything to go by thus far, then they are on the verge of starting another streak.
Guyana have so far secured individual gold medals through Nicholas Verwey in the boys’ Under-19, Louis Da Silva, the boys’ Under-17 champion and Under-15 queen Avery Arjoon.
Kaylee Lowe, in the girls’ Under-13, Mohryan Baksh in the boys’ Under-17 and Kirsten Gomes in girls’ Under-19 category, all secured silver medals, while Ethan Bulkan in boys’ Under-11, Justin Ten Pow in the boys’ under-13 and Michael Alphonso in the boys’ Under-19, added bronze medal to the country’s tally.
The individual finals got under way with Bermuda’s Mason Smith and Benjamin Sherratt snaring gold and silver in the boys’ Under-11, following contrasting victories of Savante Padmore of the host nation and Bulkan. Mason bettered Padmore in three sets 11-3, 11-0, 11-3, while Sherratt required four sets to get by Bulkan.
After losing the first set, 11-8, Sherratt recovered the win the next three 11-9, 11-3 and 11-5 in a match that lasted 28 minutes.
Both Smith and Sherratt then required 23 minutes to settle business among themselves, with the former winning 16-14, 11-8, 11-7.
The boys’ Under-13 category was topped by Barbadian Ben Shepherd, who stamped his class in an 18-minute contest against US Virgin Islands’ Ethan Mohamed. He posted comfortable 11-1, 11-5 and 11-3 wins, while Ten Pow registered 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 against Levi Jack in the third-place encounter.
The host nation was not to be outdone in the boys’ Under-15 category, which was won by Jayden George, who scored a three set 11-5, 11-3, 11-1 win over Bermuda’s Owen Rosorea. Daniel Sealy of Barbados won the third-place contest 11-4, 11-2, 11-8 over Charlie Makin of Bermuda.
After enduring two highly competitive semi-final contest against Vincentian Jaydon Williams and Andrew Cox of Bermuda, Da Silva and Baksh battled out a pulsating boys’ Under-17 final.
Da Silva won the almost hour-long four set showpiece 17-15, 9-11, 11-4, 11-7. Prior to that, he defeated Williams in five sets 6-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 in a 54-minute-long match, while Baksh was comfortable 15-13, 11-4, 11-5 victor over Cox in less than half-hour.
Verwey was also comfortable in victory in the boys’ Under-19 gold medal match in which he bettered Barbadian Alex Stewart in straight sets 12-10, 11-1, 11-6.
Alphonso, who lost his semi-final contest to Stewart, bounced back to defeat, British Virgin Islands Jace Jervis, who had earlier succumbed to Verwey, in the third-place match. Alphonso won the five-set encounter 12-10, 11-7, 11-7, after losing the first two sets 13-15, 8-11.
On the girls’ side of action, Trinidad and Tobago’s Gia Ghuran won the Under-11 gold medal, following a 14 minute 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 win over Delilah Grace Pease of British Virgin Island, while Bermuda’s Taylor Kyme defeated Barbadian Peyton Marshall-Brancker 11-1, 11-2, 11-9 in the bronze medal match.
Lenna Hamati of Barbados copped the girls’ Under-13 top medal in a four-set match with Lowe which ended, 11-7, 11-7, 10-12, 11-2. Bermuda’s McKenna Kyme won the bronze with an 11-8, 11-5, 12-10 win over Guyana’s Tiana Gomes, who fought hard and won the second and third sets 11-2, 11-5.
Arjoon took only 16 minutes to crown herself queen in the Under-15 category, with straight sets, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 win over Bermuda’s Somers Stevenson.
Josie Thong of Trinidad and Tobago took bronze with a 11-6, 11-3, 11-2 triumph over Guyana’s Emily Fung A Fat.
In the Under-17 final, Barbadian Eboni Atherley, was comfortable in victory over Jamaica’s Sanjana Nallapati, scoring 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 to wrap up victory in 25 minutes.
Another Jamaican, Mehar Trehan took bronze, as she too brushed aside her opponent Safirah Sumner of Guyana, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 in under 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Under-19 crown also went to Barbados courtesy of Sumairaa Suleman, who rallied to beat Guyana’s Kirsten Gomes 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, after losing the first set 6-11 in a final that lasted just over half-hour.
It was an all-Jamaica battle for the bronze, with Savannah Thomson coming up trumps over Katherine Risden in an entertaining 49-minute five-set contest that ended 12-14, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 8-11.
Everton winger Demarai Gray was the only Reggae Boy selected to the Concacaf Gold Cup Best XI unveiled on Monday.
The 27-year-old made the most in his first five matches with Jamaica, scoring two goals and chipping in with two assists while completing 86 percent of his passes. Jamaica lost to eventual champions, Mexico, at the semi-final stage.
The full team of the tournament is as follows: GK Guillermo Ochoa (MEX), DF Fidel Escobar (PAN), DF Johan Vasquez (MEX), DF Jorge Sanchez (MEX), MF Luis Chavez (MEX), MF Adalberto Carrasquilla (PAN), MF Orbelin Pineda (MEX), MF Edgar Barcenas (PAN), MF Demarai Gray (JAM), FW Jesus Ferreira (USA), FW Ismael Diaz (PAN)
Hot Fuss will head to the Acomb Stakes at York after breaking his maiden in style at Salisbury on Saturday.
Owned by Keith, David and Stephen Trowbridge and trained by Tom Dascombe, the son of Calyx made it third time lucky when scoring by five and a half lengths in the seven-furlong Byerley Stud British EBF Novice stakes under Liam Keniry.
Victory was compensation for a narrow defeat at 50-1 in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot under Richard Kingscote, a loss that Dascombe largely blames on himself.
“I sort of slightly kicked myself,” he said. “Our horses were not running great when Ascot was on and I suggested to Richard to ride the horse and try to finish placed. We got beat a length and a quarter.
“I said to Liam the other day, ‘boot him out the gates and this will not get beat’. I wish I’d done the same at Ascot!”
The shrewd Upper Lambourn handler will now head to the Group Three contest on the Knavesmire on August 23. Last year’s renewal went the way of subsequent Qipco 2000 Guineas winner Chaldean.
“The plan was to wait for him until Salisbury, because if he’d won by July 13, he wouldn’t be qualified for the Acomb, but (winning on July 15) now he is,” Dascombe added. “He will go there. We think he is a proper horse. Honestly, his mind is so good. He has breezed, he has run three times and he doesn’t give a monkey’s.
“From day one, I think we knew he was a good horse, but when they come from the breeze-ups you don’t really want to rev them.
“We got beat in the maiden, but I still ran him in the Chesham as I knew he was a good horse. I didn’t have the confidence in myself, rather than confidence in the horse.”
Dascombe is picking up the pieces of his training career after leaving Michael Owen’s Manor House Stables in Cheshire following a 12-year stint, a move that came as a “complete shock” to him.
Fortunately, the future is brighter and he said: “I hope we’re getting there. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it has been bloody hard. We have got some nice horses, though.”
Misty Grey, like Dascombe, is on the comeback trail. The six-year-old ran some fine races in defeat in Group company last season and having his first run since being injured at Meydan in January, was beaten a length and a half in a Listed seven-furlong contest at Chester on Saturday.
“Misty Grey’s comeback run the other day was… honestly, I nearly cried,” admitted Dascombe.
“I love that horse. I can’t explain, I absolutely adore him. He had an injury in Dubai in the winter and basically I have been too soft on him, because I didn’t want to hurt him.
“He has come out of the race great and he’s a superstar. If everybody in life tried as hard as he does, there wouldn’t be any problems in the world. If I could let him live in my house I would.”
Barbara and Alec Richmond’s gelding will now head to Newbury on August 19 for a seven-furlong Group Two contest.
“I think we will probably give him a go in the Hungerford Stakes,” said Dascombe. “He wants a flat, galloping track. On his day, he is good enough to finish in the first three.
“It will suit him and I really do think it is horses for courses.”
Dascombe is already looking ahead to next season with two promising juveniles, Bigbertiebassett and Odonnell’s Orchard.
The trainer holds the former in high regard, although admits talk of running in the Superlative Stakes at Newmarket last Saturday, following an easy win in a seven-furlong Doncaster novice on his second start, was a little far-fetched.
“Bigbertiebassett is a very nice horse,” said Dascombe of the David Foy-owned colt. “He doesn’t even know he’s born. He is absolutely clueless about life.
“He is going to go for a seven-furlong Listed race at Ascot next weekend (Flexjet Pat Eddery Stakes). He is so simple, that’s the thing about him. It is like pushing a button and he’s off.
“I don’t think an Almanzor should be running over six furlongs by now, but he just finds life so easy. He is a bit like Hot Fuss. You put him in his bed and he eats, you take him up the gallop and he gallops. He’d never be your best mate, like Misty Grey, because he has got little character, apart from saying ‘let’s get on with it’.
“I was thinking about the Superlative. That was my initial reaction, but I was probably being a little bit stupid and I’m pleased we didn’t run him as I’m not sure we’d have beaten the winner (City Of Troy).
“He will go to Ascot and that just gives us another week. I just think I’m asking the horse to be doing things he shouldn’t be doing right now, but he is doing them.
“He is 100 per cent a horse for next year. We will see how he gets on at Ascot, then leave him for the autumn and see what he wants, which is probably a mile on soft ground.”
Odonnell’s Orchard was an unfancied 33-1 chance in a decent Newbury six-furlong novice earlier this month, where he finished fourth to Starlust.
However, Dascombe is expecting big things from the Caroline Ingram and partners-owned son of Invincible Army.
“He is really nice horse and he’s going for a Listed six-furlong race at Newbury on Friday (the IRE-Incentive – It Pays To Buy Irish Rose Bowl Stakes), he’s good.
“He’s proper and he’ll be all right. We’ll probably get beat, but I think he’s a nice horse and deserves the opportunity to run in a nice race, even though he is a maiden,” he added.
Alflaila will make his belated return from injury at York on Saturday week in the Group Two Sky Bet York Stakes.
The Shadwell-owned colt won four times from six starts as a three-year-old last term before sustaining an injury ahead of a run in Bahrain in November.
Trainer Owen Burrows feels he has had plenty of time to recuperate and thinks an outing on the Knavesmire, where he won the Strensall Stakes last August, will bring him on.
Though not having raced since defeating Ottoman Fleet in the Group Three Darley Stakes at Newmarket in October, he is entered in the Group One Juddmonte International.
Connections are keen to see if he will cope with 10 furlongs for the first time in his career, in preparation for a possible run at the top level in the August 23 contest at York.
Burrows said: “He will run in the Group Two at York on Saturday week. He was injured in Bahrain a few days before he was due to run.
“He has had his rehab back at Shadwell and touch wood it has all gone well.
“We have had plenty of time to prepare him and there was the Listed race at Newbury on Saturday or this race, and we’d have had a penalty in the Listed race, so we thought we’d have a punt and see how he fared in the Group Two.
“He won the Strensall at York, so he is a track winner and it would be nice to get him back on the track.”
Hukum, who made a winning return following a long injury lay-off in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown, heads to Ascot for the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes on the same day.
However, Prix d’Ispahan winner Anmaat is set to take his place on the sidelines due to a foot problem that ruled him out of the Eclipse.
“Losing good horses (through injury) is what I think they call ‘character-building’,” quipped Burrows. “With Anmaat now likely sidelined for the rest of the season, I think I’ve done enough character-building for now.
“Hukum is in good form, though. It will be a big weekend for us, that’s for sure.”
Shadwell decided not to supplement Al Asifah into Saturday’s Juddmonte Irish Oaks at the Curragh, with no imminent plans.
The three-year-old daughter of Frankel, trained by John and Thady Gosden, was a runaway winner of a Goodwood Listed heat in June, before finishing a lacklustre sixth to Warm Heart in the Ribblesdale Stake at Royal Ascot 11 days later.
Angus Gold, racing manager to Shadwell, said: “We have left her alone since Ascot. We will just give her a little bit of time and will bring her back gently later in the season.”
Savethelastdance could have stablemate Warm Heart among eight rivals when she has another crack at Classic honours in Saturday’s Darley Irish Oaks at the Curragh.
Aidan O’Brien’s charge was sent off favourite for the Betfred Oaks at Epsom after a 22-length demolition job in the Cheshire Oaks, but she could not quite catch Soul Sister and was beaten a length and three-quarters.
Fellow Ballydoyle runner Warm Heart appears to be her chief threat, with that filly stepping up from a Newbury Listed win to claim the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot. O’Brien also has Be Happy, Lambada and Library in the field, while his son Joseph can call on Ribblesdale runner-up Lumiere Rock.
The Ralph Beckett-trained Bluestocking is familiar with Warm Heart, having been beaten a head at Newbury and just under four lengths when third at Ascot.
Dermot Weld’s Azazat and the Jim Bolger-trained Comhra complete the list of possibles.
Art Power has won each of his three starts at the Curragh and Tim Easterby’s charge leads 11 contenders for the Barberstown Castle Sapphire Stakes after finishing a fair fourth in the July Cup last weekend.
Karl Burke’s ParisLongchamp Group Three winner White Lavender has been supplemented for the five-furlong contest, which also features Ladies Church, Go Athletico and Moss Tucker.
Emily Dickinson could drop back to a mile and six furlongs in the Comer Group International Curragh Cup after coming home fourth over two and a half miles in the Gold Cup at Ascot.
Fellow Aidan O’Brien contenders include Broome and Gooloogong, winner of a Navan maiden, with Joseph O’Brien’s Duke of Edinburgh Stakes winner Okita Soushi a possible for the Group Two affair.
Valiant King, who was just touched off by Desert Hero in the King George V Stakes at the Royal meeting, is another to note for O’Brien junior, as is Rosscarbery for Paddy Twomey after her luckless Pretty Polly Stakes run.
The Jebel Ali Racecourse And Stables Anglesey Stakes has a rich history and after saddling Little Big Bear to win 12 months ago, Aidan O’Brien has five to pick from, headlined by narrow Chesham second Pearls And Rubies.
Twomey houses one of the key performers for Sunday’s Romanised Minstrel Stakes in Just Beautiful, winner of a Curragh Group Two when last seen in May.
Jumbly finished second on that occasion and could try her luck again, while Ger Lyons has three contenders, including recent Group Three scores Zarinsk and Power Under Me.
Coronation Stakes third Sounds Of Heaven is the star name in the Michael John Kennedy Memorial Stakes as she drops back to Group Three level and inches up to nine furlongs for Jessica Harrington.
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