It seems hard to believe now that the form of the Ballydoyle stable was being questioned prior to the 2,000 Guineas, before Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) acted as the pivot to a major upturn and sequence of wins in key races in early May. That he slammed Godolphin’s genuine Group 1 performer Distant Storm (Night Of Thunder) and the rest by upwards of eight lengths in that Newmarket Classic and still managed to be convincingly beaten is the remarkable story of this year’s renewal and he gets the chance to excel in his own right in Saturday’s G1 Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh.

We saw one of the finest Guineas winners in recent decades in Bow Echo, so second-best in 2026 can only be viewed in positive terms especially in the context of that mediocre patch for the yard during April. Bound to progress from there, Gstaad is a true rouleur as they say in cycling, a powerhouse sprinter-miler who can blast away and sustain for a lengthy period.

If the formbook is any guide, this is a case of Ballydoyle’s favourite racing against the clock rather than his peers and the presence of his smart stablemate Neolithic (Sioux Nation) does not mean he won’t be going full-tilt from the outset. Distant Storm has that sizeable gap to close, as does the Guineas fifth Thesecretadversary (St Mark’s Basilica), so it doesn’t look good for them on paper and it could be that the latter has more to offer in this particular scenario.

With so much pace on from Ballydoyle’s representation, the G3 Greenham Stakes winner Alparslan (Dandy Man) and Godolphin’s pacemaker Pacific Avenue (Dubawi), Thesecretadversary has more chance to settle than he did three weeks ago. Fozzy Stack is hoping things pan out more favourably this time. “He didn’t have much cover and Seamus [Heffernan] said he got a bit agitated in the gates,” he explained. “We thought he might have a chance of getting nine or 10 furlongs and the Curragh is a stiff track, so hopefully that might be one strength that might get us a little bit closer to Gstaad.”

To say this is a key weekend for Team Ballydoyle is an understatement and the yard’s heavy influence is instantly felt in the meeting’s opener, the Tally Ho Stud Irish EBF Maiden which acts almost as a Coventry prep in itself. Brussels, Henri Matisse, Unquestionable and Arizona are four of the recent winners from Rosegreen and the trio running this time are headed by the smart Endorsement’s brother Sergei Diaghilev (Wootton Bassett). There are three from the stable also in the G3 Heider Family Stables Gallinule Stakes, with another son of Wootton Bassett holding sway in the Madrid and Tetrarch winner Causeway.

Sunday’s fixture features the G1 Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas, where Ryan Moore has sided with True Love (No Nay Never) of the high-profile Ballydoyle pair at the head of the market. After a dozen were declared, Newmarket’s 1,000 Guineas heroine who is drawn in one was the selection of Coolmore’s number one rider with Wayne Lordan on the Fillies’ Mile and Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Precise (Starspangledbanner). Seventh three weeks ago, she will exit from stall seven as she looks to close the gap.

Given the highly favourable comments from Aidan O’Brien regarding Precise at his inaugural Press Day this spring, it is a surprise that she has been usurped so soon into the season but that is merely due to the extraordinary onward march of her stablemate. True Love was a doubtful stayer lining up for the seven-furlong Priory Belle in April, let alone for the Guineas but this is a filly who balks at the orthodox. Five at Royal Ascot? No problem. Six in the Cheveley Park? No sweat. The full mile back at Newmarket? Keep it coming, she says.

As in the colts’ equivalent 24 hours earlier, this Classic features a Godolphin runner attempting to close a notable gap to Ballydoyle but whereas Distant Storm has eight lengths to find with Gstaad the deeply promising Abashiri (Frankel) only has four to make up on True Love. She could be the main threat to the O’Brien hegemony, but that looks a hope rather than an expectation at this stage and Havana Grey’s G3 Fred Darling Stakes winner Sukanya, G3 Nell Gwyn Stakes runner-up America Queen and G3 Athasi Stakes runner-up Black Caviar Gold also have to bridge a notable class gap.

Sunday’s card also hosts Ballydoyle’s A-lister Minnie Hauk (Frankel), who faces seven in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup including Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum’s pair Almaqam (Lope De Vega) and Saddadd (Pinatubo), as well as fellow Brit Bay City Roller (New Bay). This should be plain sailing for last year’s Oaks, Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks heroine and Arc runner-up as she prepares for another pop at Daryz next month.

The yard’s exciting juvenile Great Barrier Reef (No Nay Never) heads a field of eight for the G3 Kilkea Castle Marble Hill Stakes, a race Aidan O’Brien has won 13 times so far including with Albert Einstein, Blackbeard, Fairyland and Caravaggio. This card last year saw Ryan Moore win all four Group races and a repeat is understandably at cramped odds.

Elsewhere this weekend, the Royal Ascot-bound sprinters are spread over three heats, with the older brigade engaged in a pair of skirmishes either side of the Irish Sea. Haydock’s G2 Temple Stakes sees the G3 Palace House Stakes winner Night Raider (Dark Angel) taken on again by a clutch of beaten rivals including the evergreen Asfoora (Flying Artie), while at The Curragh last year’s surprise British Champions Sprint Stakes hero Powerful Glory (Cotai Glory) tackles the home contingent under a penalty. Haydock’s G2 Sandy Lane Stakes is for the Commonwealth Cup hopes and last year’s Prix Morny heroine Venetian Sun (Starman) will shorten dramatically for that Royal Ascot feature if she gets back on track against Coppull (Bated Breath) and Division (Kingman) et al.

“I have 100% faith in her,” Karl Burke said of Venetian Sun. “Her work at home has shown us that she’s still got plenty of ability, but I suppose they’ve got to go and prove it on the track. She’s strengthened up, she looks a powerful filly. She did at two as well, she really stood out in the paddock as a two-year-old and I think she’ll stand out in the paddock again on Saturday.”

Two weeks out from the Derby and just 13 days from the Oaks, there could either be a meagre or consequential shift in both markets if the Gosdens’ Saxon Street (Saxon Warrior) shines in the Listed British Stallion Studs EBF Cocked Hat Stakes and Earth Shot (Time Test) gets it done for the William Haggas stable in the Listed Fitzdares Height of Fashion Stakes on Goodwood’s Saturday card.

On the same day, there is also the matter of the return of past Group 1 winners Friendly Soul (Kingman) and Oxted (Mayson) in Haydock’s Listed Hedge of Oak Stakes and Salisbury’s Listed Cathedral Stakes, respectively. While George Strawbridge’s 2024 Prix de l’Opera heroine missed the whole of last year, the 10-year-old Oxted has a yawning five-year absence to overcome in one of racing’s most intriguing stories of 2026.

To cap a stellar weekend, Sunday’s G2 Prix Corrida plays host to Juddmonte’s exciting G3 Prix Allez France scorer Sunly (Night Of Thunder), who has maintained a dangerously progressive profile. Her trainer Francis Graffard’s cup truly runneth over this term, as it did in 2025, and in the card’s G3 Prix Hocquart he also saddles the unbeaten Aga Khan Studs runner Varandir (Zarak), another Arc entry who bids to emulate stablemate Calandagan’s win in this two years ago.

From Tokyo to Sha Tin

Speaking of Arc entries, Juryoku Pierrot is a name to look out for in Sunday’s G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) at Tokyo after the daughter of Orfevre featured among seven possible runners from Japan for Europe’s richest race published on Wednesday. Last seen winning the Listed Wasurenagusa Sho at Hanshin, Juryoku Pierrot has been ridden in four of her five starts to date by 22-year-old Seina Imamura, who will be attempting to make history on Sunday by becoming the first female jockey to win a Japanese Classic.

Laughterlines (Al Ain), who returns to Tokyo following a comfortable defeat of Enne (Kizuna) in last month’s G2 Sankei Sports Sho Flora Stakes, is likely to be among the market leaders, along with Alankar (Epiphaneia), a daughter of the 2016 Yushun Himba heroine Sinhalite (Deep Impact), who will be suited by the step up in trip after finishing fifth in the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1,000 Guineas) at Hanshin last time.

Star Anise (Drefong), on the other hand, has a pedigree and racing style which suggest she is far from certain to last home over this extra distance as she tries to complete a Classic double. An impressive winner of the Oka Sho, she is very much the established superstar in the line-up, having also been crowned Japan’s champion two-year-old filly in 2025, but trainer Tomokazu Takano admits to being in the dark when it comes to her prospects of staying 2,400 metres.

He said, “We’ve been careful not to do too much with her, but she’s had a good workload and has been moving well enough, with times as expected. I think she’s better than she was for her last race. We won’t know about the 2,400 meters until we try, but we can believe in the horse and jockey to do their best. All we need is for everything to go smoothly right up until the race.”

In Hong Kong on Sunday, the redoubtable Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) has the opportunity to break yet more new ground when he faces eight rivals in the G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup, bidding to secure Hong Kong’s Triple Crown.

Japanese raider Deep Monster (Deep Impact), who took the notable scalp of Goliath when last seen winning the G2 H.H The Amir Trophy in Qatar, is a worthy challenger, but Romantic Warrior should simply be a class apart on all known form. The only crumb of comfort for his rivals is that he was beaten on his sole previous start over 2,400 metres, when suffering a narrow defeat in this race in 2023.

“It’ll be a challenge,” trainer Danny Shum said of the task facing his 14-time Group 1 winner. “Romantic Warrior has only raced over 2,400 metres once before when he ran second, but that time he was quite keen. He’s getting older now, so he’s easier to control and, hopefully, he can handle the distance. He’s amazing – he’s such a talented animal.”

Should Romantic Warrior – who already boasts world-record earnings of HK$271.46 million (€29.6 million) in a career spanning 30 starts – be successful on Sunday, then he would also secure owner Peter Lau a HK$10-million bonus for completing the Triple Crown. [Adam Houghton].