Princess Highway bidding for Darley Irish Oaks at Curragh
The Ribblesdale Stakes winner, Princess Highway, is a definite runner in Sunday’s Darley Irish Oaks, but Dermot Weld is hoping for an improved weather at Curragh.
According to the handler, the 3-year-old has recently handled Royal Ascot’s testing conditions quite nicely, but still it would be a lot better, if she gets a good surface on her next start.
"Princess Highway is in great form. We would prefer a dry week as she would rather better ground but she is a definite runner. She's in good form and she's all set. We'd like the weather to pick up because she's a filly with a lot of pace, but she handled
that ground on the day at Ascot and she's very adaptable and she's very well,” said Weld.
Weld has won the fillies’ Classic twice so far in his career. Blue Wind earned him a classy success in 1981, whereas the second glory came with Dance Design in 1996. Princess Highway is in such a brilliant form these days that the trainer has every reason
to be confident of adding another triumph to his tally.
"It would be lovely, and be our third time if we could win it. Classics are hard to win and they don't come easy, so we are well aware of that," the handler told At The Races.
The Moyglare Stud Farm-owned was brought out on the racecourse for the first time in last October, when she failed terribly. In the Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund 2yo Fillies Maiden, she could only secure the eighth spot behind Eternal Bounty.
The filly, however, has been super impressive since the start of this season. After winning the Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund 3yo Fillies Maiden at Leopardstown, she displayed a winning performance at Naas, clinching an easy win in the Group
3 Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Blue Wind Stakes in May.
The dashing filly continued her good work to upset the 5-2 favourite, The Fugue, by half a dozen lengths in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot last month.
The Darley Irish Oaks is going to be Princess Highway’s debut appearance at the highest level, nevertheless, Weld believes that the filly has a very good chance of winning.
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