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Preview curragh 22nd Mar

Sat 21st Mar 2009, 13:40

The turf season swings into action with a seven-race card at the Curragh which features the Group Three Lodge Park Stud EBF Park Express Stakes.

On all known form, Mad About You should prove a class apart and she was promoted to second in last year's Irish 1000 Guineas on her seasonal debut so she goes well fresh.

Should she fluff her lines, the Jim Bolger pair of Prima Luce and Oh Goodness Me will be waiting in the wings, as will consistent filly Beach Bunny.

There's 75,000 euros up for grabs in the Keatley Groundcare Irish Lincolnshire, with previous winners Deauville Vision and Crooked Throw heading the weights.

But there's plenty in the way of opposition, notably unexposed four-year-olds Sixteen Forty Two and the Dermot Weld-trained Designated Decoy.

Weld unleashes a couple of choicely-bred newcomers in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden in Campaign Swing and Sporting Icon.

The former is related to Refuse To Bend and Media Puzzle, but Sporting Icon, out of the yard's Grade One winner Dress To Thrill, holds Classic entries and Pat Smullen rides.

Weld's 2006 winner Kingsdale Ocean locks horns with Fit The Cove, successful 12 months later, in the Join "Go Racing In Kildare" Handicap but this is wide-open, as is the Gabriel Curran Memorial Madrid Handicap, where Mr Topaz and Chorus Of Angels are just two with genuine claims.

The meeting kicks off at 2.15 with the first juvenile race of the season and the market will be the best guide, but Jim Bolger's Eireannach, the Kevin Prendergast-trained King Ledley and the speedily-bred Royal Infidelity are obvious types on paper.

Over the jumps at Cork, Nicanor is the star of the show in the Easter Festival Hurdle.

The 2006 Royal & SunAlliance Hurdle winner returned from a three-year spell on the sidelines with an encouraging display over fences and, even though Serpentaria will be a tough nut to crack, this could tee him up nicely for a trip to Fairyhouse.

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