O'Brien targets Milan

Aidan O'Brien is hoping that the inconsistent Black Sam Bellamy will have one of his good days in Milan on Sunday when he faces four rivals in the Group 1 Gran Premio del Jockey Club and Coppa d'Oro, a 1 1/2-mile contest worth $300,000.

He will be opposed by the Clive Brittain-trained Warrsan, a Group 1, 2, and 3 winner at the distance this spring. Ekraar, whose best effort was a third-place finish to Sulamani in the Dubai Sheema Classic, stands a good chance of cracking the first three.

The one-mile Group 1 Gran Criterium for juvenile colts and fillies, worth $266,000, should also be dominated by foreign invaders. Another O'Brien trainee, Moscow Ballet, second in his last race, the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot, holds a slight edge over the Mark Johnston-trained Pearl of Love, winner of the Group 2 Futurity Stakes at The Curragh who was third last time behind One Cool Cat in the Group 1 National Stakes.

* Fair Mix, unraced since he won the Group 1 Prix Ganay on April 27, can take the 1 1/2-mile Group 2 Prix du Conseil de Paris at Longchamp at the expense of recent Prix Vermeille third Fidelite, but only if trainer Marc Rolland has him race fit. In the 1 1/8-mile Group 3 Prix de Conde, George Strawbridge has a promising juvenile son of Daylami in Day or Night, an allowance winner first time out at Fontainebleau on Sept. 8.