Who To Follow On Sunday At The Curragh

The feature race of the day at the Curragh is the Group One Pretty Polly Stakes over 1 mile 2 furlongs and Magical is back to land the spoils.

We thought we had seen the last of Magical at Ascot on Champions Day when she landed the Group One event as she was set for retirement, but in a change of events she is back for another season, this time as a five year old.

Magical on ratings and form alone should beat this field with ease, being a four time Group One winner and having gone well fresh before justifies her favouritism.

It is strange to see Willie Mullins being a trainer to follow on a flat card but in the final race of the day he fields some strong hurdlers in a handicap contest on the flat that we believe will pay to follow.

The seven year old Sharjah although not having the best record on the flat has been highly progressive over the last few seasons when jumping hurdles.

He has landed back to back Grade One wins in the Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown in the last two seasons and the last time the gelding was seen he finished a good second in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham festival behind Epatante.

He enters this contest off a mark of 92 and if getting good ground that can be massively exploited.

The yard also run Jon Snow who should also go well returning to the flat after not performing to a high enough standard over hurdles.

Mullins since the return of racing has has had two winners from 10 runners running at a strike rate of 20%.

Oisin Orr is a young jockey that has made waves over the last few seasons with some enterprising strong finishes and we believe with his three rides on Sunday he can land at least one winner.

He has made a decent start to the season with a handful of winners and he has a big chance in the third race of the day tomorrow on board the Dermot Weld trained Katiba.

The three year old filly has had three runs to date, being a smart juvenile and winning on her racecourse debut at the Curragh over a mile and then finishing third in a decent Group Three at Leopardstown.

On her seasonal return she finished eighth of 11 in the Irish 1000 Guineas which proved too hot a race and now dropping back to this company should give her a good chance to get back on track.