Weld and Smullen out to continue fine race record with Raymonda

Landwades Stud Stakes (Group 2) | 1m | RTE2/ATR

Dermot Weld, Khalid Abdullah and Pat Smullen have teamed up to win this Group 2 for three of the last six years thanks to Emulous (2011 and 2012) and Brooch (2015), and they bid to carry off most of the loot once more with Raymonda.

The lightly raced four-year-old has had only four starts, winning her sole outing at two before making a winning debut at three, but she has come up short on her last two outings.

She was racing against the boys last time in the Amethyst Stakes, though, and found only gutsy front-runner Custom Cut half a length too good. If she can find any improvement on that performance it would bring her right into the mix.

Mick Channon hit the bullseye with two of his six darts at the Curragh in 2016 and sends over Opal Tiara, who won a Group 2 at Meydan in February. She is rated 111, which puts her 2lb clear of anything else on the figures. Her trainer is travelling with confidence too.

Channon said: "I'm very hopeful for Opal Tiara. The ground wasn't right for her on World Cup night in Dubai but she ran really well at Sandown last time."

Not so confident is Andy Slattery. His stable star Creggs Pipes, who won four on the trot last year, has come into season and he has no idea how it will effect her performance.

Slattery said: "The last time she was in-season she ran a shocker off 75.

"We're going to let her take her chance and I hope we get away with it. She seems in great form at home and I'd been giving us a great chance of reversing form with Turret Rocks over a mile."

Turret Rocks is the only one of the quintet who was successful last time out. She landed the Group 3 Blue Wind Stakes at the track a fortnight ago, but that was over a mile and a quarter, and she needed every yard of that trip to master Laganore.

She has to prove she is equally effective over a mile, but she does have ground conditions very much in her favour.

The five-runner field is completed by the James Fanshawe-trained Zest who, with an official mark of 96, will need to produce a career-best to score under Tom Queally.