O'Brien six assault Irish Oaks

Sunday's Irish Oaks at The Curragh is notable more for who isn't running than who is.

Injuries have ruled out the first two finishers in the English Oaks, Imagine and Flight of Fancy, although Imagine is already being aimed by trainer Aidan O'Brien for an Arc prep in September after having missed a few days of training with a stone bruise.

Also to miss the 1 1/2-mile, Group 1 Oaks are Sahara Slew, winner of the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, and Italian Oaks winner Zanzibar, whose trainer, Michael Bell, does not want to run her on good-to-firm ground.

O'Brien has entered six fillies in the Irish Oaks, with Karsavina, the mount of Michael Kinane, probably the best of them. The French 1000 Guineas winner, Rose Gypsy, and juvenile Group 1 winner Sequoyah are not without hope in spite of their failures in the Coronation Stakes.

Kevin Prendergast sends out recent Group 2 Pretty Polly Stakes winner, Rebelline, but the race could boil down to a duel between the English Oaks third, Relish the Thought, and French Oaks third, Time Away.

Time Away, a Darshaan filly trained by John Dunlop, rates the edge by virtue of her victory over Relish the Thought in the Musidora Stakes in May.