Princess Zoe returns to Galway to test Listed potential
Mullins mare bids to follow up Festival successes.
Dual Galway Festival winner Princess Zoe is set to move up to Listed level on her return to Ballybrit for the Ardilaun Hotel Oyster Stakes. Since finishing second on her Irish debut for Tony Mullins at Navan in June, the German recruit has clocked a hat-trick of wins – with a facile success at the Curragh supplemented by a pair of lucrative premier handicap wins in the space of six days at Galway. The five-year-old daughter of Jukebox Jury goes in search of some valuable black type in Tuesday’s mile-and-a-half feature. “She’s gone from a rating of 64 up to 101 – now she has to prove it in Listed company,” Mullins said, in a video posted on his Twitter account. “If it goes smoothly we’ll probably consider the Prix du Cadran (at ParisLongchamp next month). “The steps she has taken are huge, but now we’re in the open league. “They say Galway is quite an idiosyncratic track – and when they handle it, it’s very inviting to chance going back again.” Princess Zoe is due to face 15 rivals, with several powerhouse yards represented. Aidan O’Brien saddles a trio of runners in Ennistymon, Elizabethofaragon and Holy Roman Empress – as does his son Joseph, with Mighty Blue, Snapraeceps and Lady Dahlia all declared. Joseph’s younger brother Donnacha O’Brien also has a representative in Oh So True – while the Ger Lyons-trained Yaxeni, Dermot Weld’s Katiba and Jessica Harrington’s pair of Barrington Court and Royal Free Hotel also feature.Follow us on Twitter racing365dotcom and like our Facebook page.
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