Aidan O’Brien has won the Irish 2000 Guineas 11 times since his first such victory in 1997. He has won the race in seven of the past 10 years. But while O’Brien has four runners in this year’s edition, including the well-qualified pair of U S Navy Flag and Gustav Klimt, it’s the Mark Johnston-trained Elarqam who is the solid favorite for Saturday’s race at The Curragh. Elarqam, a Frankel colt owned by Hamdan al-Maktoum, sharply won his two starts last year at age 2 and returned to action May 5 with a solid fourth behind the O’Brien-trained Saxon Warrior in the English 2000 Guineas. Elarqam couldn’t muster a finish to stick with Saxon Warrior but was beaten just a head by the capable Masar and finished in front of Roaring Lion, who returned to win the Dante Stakes last week and now is bound for the Epsom Derby. That Elarqam ran the best race of his career in the first start of his season bodes well for improvement Saturday, and he might not need to improve much at all to capture his first Group 1 race. Gustav Klimt was the second choice to Saxon Warrior in the English 2000 Guineas after being favored in much of the early betting, but never looked like a winner in that straight-course mile. Gustav Klimt’s 3-year-old debut produced an eye-catching win at Leopardstown in Ireland, but he might merely have coped with heavy going better than his rivals that day. Gustav Klimt appears to have less room to improve than Elarqam and has yet to produce a race as good as that rival’s Guineas. U S Navy Flag finished far behind Gustav Klimt in the Leopardstown race but got back on the right track with a fifth May 13 in the French 2000 Guineas. He beat Mendelssohn in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes before failing to handle dirt in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and is eligible to deliver a contending run Saturday. ◗ Battaash, a spectacular sprinter last year at age 3, makes his seasonal debut Saturday at Haydock Park in the Group 2 Temple Stakes. Battaash will be odds-on to beat 10 rivals in the five-furlong Temple, and if he comes anywhere near his baseline 2017 form, beat them he will. Battaash, trained by Charlie Hills, won four of five starts last year and capped his campaign with a four-length pasting of the excellent sprinter Marsha in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye on the Arc card.