Power leads Phoenix possibles
The unbeaten Power heads a team of six possibles from the Aidan O’Brien stable for Sunday’s Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.
The Ballydoyle trainer has won this Group One race for two-year-olds 11 times and appears to be leaving no stone unturned in his bid for a 12th success in the last 14 renewals.
Power has tip-top credentials with a hat-trick of wins, the latest coming in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.
O’Brien can also chose from After, Among Equals, Boris Grigoriev, Homecoming Queen and Reply.
Jim Bolger has Parish Hall and Somasach among the 14 five-day confirmations as he seeks to win this six-furlong heat for a fourth time.
Heading a strong British contingent is the David Brown-trained Frederick Engels, winner of the Windsor Castle and July Stakes.
Richard Hannon’s Lilbourne Lad, winner of the Group Two Railway Stakes over this course and distance, and Mick Channon’s Gatepost, fifth behind Power at Royal Ascot, are the other two UK entries.
La Collina, Qatar and Tough As Nails complete the list.
O’Brien has supplemented the three-year-old filly Empowering for the Patrick P O’Leary Memorial Phoenix Sprint Stakes over the same six furlongs on the same card.
He also has Zoffany in the Group Three dash for which there are 17 acceptors.
Zoffany took the Phoenix Stakes 12 months ago and has finished second in both the St James’s Palace Stakes behind Frankel and the Prix Jean Prat on his last two starts.
Newmarket trainer James Fanshawe has left in Deacon Blues but his Wokingham and Hackwood Stakes winner is also engaged in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville on Sunday.
David Barron’s July Cup third Hitchens, Ron Harris’s Secret Witness and the Mick Channon-trained Winker Watson are other possible British-trained challengers.
