Sunday Selections: Ross Millar has three fancies on a sensational Curragh card

The Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes, won last year by Joseph O'Brien's Thundering Nights, is the highlight this afternoon and our horse racing writer has a strong fancy in the 2022 edition.

2.10 Curragh, 6f Airlie Stud Stakes

Aidan O’Brien enjoyed a highly successful Royal Ascot and, bar the inexplicably poor run from Alfred Munnings in the Chesham, he will surely have been pleased with how his two-year-olds performed.

I’m confident that Statuette ranks above Albany winner Meditate in the Ballydoyle pecking order, and therefore it will be surprising if she doesn’t win this Group 2 contest on just her second start.

Statuette flaunted her impressive physique during the preliminaries before her Navan debut - she thoroughly dwarfed her opposition - and duly put the experienced Olivia Maralda in her place by an easy three lengths in the race itself. 

Statuette hit the line powerfully over five-and-a-half furlongs, so the step up to six should suit her well. I’m sure connections were tempted to send her to Ascot last week, but the extra time between her debut and now, as well as the slightly easier ground she gets here, can only be seen as an advantage.

She will be a prohibitive price, but it’s hard to oppose her when the each-way angle is removed due to the race attracting just seven runners.

Selection: Statuette @ 1.76

3.45 Curragh, 1m2f Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes

William Haggas remains in a fine vein of form and is doubly represented in Sunday’s featured contest, the Group 1 Pretty Polly. My Astra will take a huge step up in class after running out an emphatic winner over a Listed contest at Ayr, and if she’s able to cope with the better opposition and the quicker ground, she won’t be far away. 

However, I prefer stablemate Purplepay, who is the choice of leading rider Tom Marquand. This filly stayed on strongly to win the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham at Chantilly earlier this month and had previously caught the eye with a powerful late run in the Irish 1,000 Guineas.

She will have to cope with slightly quicker conditions than she was faced with in France, which presents an unknown, but her sire, Zarak, had winning form on a fast surface, as did her half-sister, Pentaiade.

In a wide-open race she is fancied to provide William Haggas and Tom Marquand with yet another top-level victory.

Selection: Purplepay @ 5

4.20 Curragh, 1m4f handicap

This is a typically competitive Irish handicap, but I like HMS Seahorse, who took well to hurdles for Paul Nolan during the spring and hit the frame at both the Cheltenham and Punchestown Festivals. 

His last run on the flat came at Cork in May last year and reads like a strong piece of form. He finished a nose behind the winner, Castletownbere, who is now rated 87, while the Johnny Murtagh trained Safecracker, who is now rated 90, was a head back in third. 

He returns to the flat off an attractive handicap mark of 82 and should be a stronger and more relaxed horse. He should bag this prize to start his productive summer.

Selection: HMS Seahorse @ 5.3

Recommended bets

Statuette (2.10 Curragh) @ 1.76
Purplepay (3.45 Curragh) @ 5
HMS Seahorse (4.20 Curragh) @ 5.3