Highfield Princess looks to repeat in Flying Five, eyes another Breeders' Cup try

Two Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series races in Ireland and Arc trials in France highlight a busy Sunday of European stakes action.

The five-furlong Flying Five Stakes at The Curragh is a Win and You’re In race linked to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, while the seven-furlong Moyglare Stud offers the winner automatic fees-paid entry into the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Highfield Princess won the Flying Five a year ago and used the Win and You’re In berth for the BC Turf Sprint at Keeneland, where she was a decent fourth of 14. One would think connections might have designs on this year’s Breeders’ Cup, as well, since a fast-playing five furlongs at Santa Anita probably suits this mare.

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Six-year-old Highfield Princess dominated the 2022 Flying Five, winning by more than three lengths in an 18-horse field. She faces only nine rivals Sunday and is solidly favored despite having lost 4 of 5 starts this season. Highfield Princess ran well in those starts and comes to Ireland after a second-place finish in the Group 1 Nunthorpe at York, a five-furlong dash she won in 2022.

Three-year-old Bradsell was third behind Highfield Princess in the Nunthorpe but beat her in the Group 1 King’s Stand at Royal Ascot and does have some upside in just his seventh career start. He’s also a horse who could be considered for the BC Turf Sprint; trainer Archie Watson has brought horses to American before, and Bradsell is very much a top-of-the-ground-type sprinter. The Curragh course as of Friday was listed as good.

Art Power prefers six furlongs to five but has a noteworthy record at The Curragh, where he has gone 4 for 4.

Ylang Ylang on Friday was an odds-on favorite with British bookmakers for the Moyglare Stud. She followed a sharp five-furlong maiden win at The Curragh with an impressive victory going seven furlongs at Leopardstown in the Silver Flash Stakes. Slightly headstrong in the early stages, Ylang Ylang eventually settled on the lead for jockey Ryan Moore and quickened well when called upon for more run. Vespertillo, second choice in the Moyglare Stud, made a strong move through the final furlong and a half, but Ylang Ylang was holding her well clear at the finish. Ylang Ylang is by the great Frankel and is the first foal to race out of Shambolic, who was no stakes horse but twice placed racing 1 1/2 miles. The filly is bred to get better with age and over longer distances.

Aidan O’Brien trains Ylang Ylang and dominates the betting market for the Group 1 National Stakes, another seven-furlong race for 2-year-olds, this one with no sex restriction. Moore rides City of Troy, who is favored for next spring’s 2000 Guineas in England and being talked about as a future star. City of Troy followed a seven-furlong debut win at The Curragh with a tour de force in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes going seven furlongs at Newmarket, winning by 6 1/2 lengths over Haatem, who came back to capture the Group 2 Vintage Stakes.

The O’Brien-trained Henry Longfellow has high-level talent himself. By Dubawi out of the great racemare Minding, Henry Longfellow also is 2 for 2, including an Aug. 19 course-and-distance score in the Group 2 Futurity Stakes.

Blue Rose Cen is the big name in the three 1 1/2-mile stakes races Sunday at Longchamp. The best 3-year-old filly in France, if not Europe, tries the distance for the first time in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, where she can rebound from her first loss of the year, a fourth-place finish in the Nassau last month at Goodwood. Goodwood is a quirky course, and while Blue Rose Cen has won before over courses with ease in the ground, she never looked especially comfortable on soft Goodwood going. Blue Rose Cen won the French Guineas in May and was a dominant four-length winner of the 1 5/16-mile French Oaks in June. She gets eight pounds from older fillies and mares and will be favored over seven rivals on a course rated good-to-soft as of Friday.

Warm Heart will want it even firmer than that. The 3-year-old O’Brien-trained filly, a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, is a different horse on firm footing and upset the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks on Aug. 24 racing over a course rated good to firm.

Feed the Flame faces seven fellow 3-year-olds in the Group 2 Prix Niel and is an improving, lightly raced colt. Fourth, beaten more than six lengths by Arc favorite Ace Impact in the French Derby, Feed the Flame won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris in his most recent outing.

The Group 2 Prix Foy typically is the softest of the three Arc trials and that definitely appears to be the case Sunday. The Foy has just five entrants, headed by Group 1-winning 4-year-old filly Place du Carrousel.

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