Eight winners in action in feature event at new-look course

4.15 Curragh
Irish Stallion Farms EBF Race | 3yo | 1m | ATR

With Irish Guineas weekend two weeks away, the Curragh starts its season with an eight-race card when racegoers will get the chance to sample the latest stage of the racecourse's redevelopment, which will be completed in time for next season.

The main event on the card is a conditions race confined to horses who haven't won a Listed race or been placed at Group level, and in which eight of the nine runners are winners.

Dermot Weld is represented by Khalaab, who scored by a short head on his debut at Leopardstown last month and now drops down a furlong in distance.

"Khalaab battled well to win his maiden. He's well and we think he's a progressive colt," Weld said of Declan McDonogh's mount.

In opposition, debut-winner Bobby Boy takes on the Aidan O'Brien-trained Full Moon for the second time. The son of Declaration Of War finished half a length behind Bobby Boy in a Naas maiden before going on to win at Dundalk.

The Ger Lyons-trained Bobby Boy is hooded, as he was when scoring at Naas, while Aidan O'Brien is hoping that the ground, which was described as yielding to soft on Thursday, will dry out for Full Moon and his other representative, Bond Street, who came good at the seventh attempt when scoring over this trip at Dundalk nine days ago.

O'Brien said: "The two of them are in good form. We don't want to see any more rain as the better the ground, the more they'll like it."

Hand On Heart, the mount of Chris Hayes, is one of four fillies in the line-up and connections hope the well-bred daughter of Mastercraftsman will progress to become a stakes filly.

She won over the distance on her debut at Limerick last month and her trainer, Fozzy Stack, said: "She won nicely at Limerick and is in good form. This race looked the logical next step for her."

The Joseph O'Brien-trained Medal Of Honour, Gasta, representing Jim Bolger, and the Bill Farrell-trained Santorini Sun are the other winners in the line-up for the race which was won a year ago by subsequent Hong Kong Group 3 winner Exultant.

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