Curragh calls for Flying Five hopeful Twilight

Ascot second on the comeback trail.

Henry Candy is aiming to beat the clock and get his progressive sprinter Twilight Calls back on track for the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh on September 11.

Having started the season with a stylish victory in a Newmarket handicap, it has been Group races all the way since, returning to Headquarters to finish a close-up fifth in the Palace House Stakes, before picking up silver medals in both the Temple Stakes at Haydock and the King’s Stand Stakes.

The Twilight Son gelding produced a career best to chase home Australian raider Nature Strip in the Royal Ascot Group One, but Candy’s charge has been unable to build on that fine effort in defeat having met with a setback which ruled him out of both Goodwood and the Nunthorpe Stakes at York.

Despite facing a slight race against time, Candy hopes to have Twilight Calls back fully firing for the trip to Ireland, where he is the 4-1 second-favourite for the five-furlong event with both Paddy Power and Betfair.

“We’re hoping to go to the Flying Five, he’s back in work and it will be a little bit tight, but that is what we would like to do,” said Candy.

On missing out on the big sprints in July and August, he added: “It’s just one of those things. It was just a bit of wear and tear in the fetlock joints that needed a bit of rest.”

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