Can Minding beat the colts and other key questions for Leopardstown

Can Minding beat the colts?
Well, the first thing to note is that Minding certainly could have been found an easier opportunity to do so, with a dual Derby winner, the last two Prix Du Jockey Club winners, a Breeders Cup Turf winner and a Coral-Eclipse winner among those in opposition.

This is certainly her toughest task to date and there is no real collateral form to go on, but she is clearly the best three-year-old filly in training despite the mid-summer rise to prominence of French-trained filly Qemah.

There was little or nothing more to be proved by campaigning her exclusively against fillies, so credit is due to connections for taking this plunge. Whether she is good enough or not remains to be seen, but racing at probably her optimum trip and with ground conditions in her favour she is unlikely to have a better chance at Group 1 level.