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Camelot meets Al Kazeem in Tattersalls Gold Cup Now a vital part of the Irish racing calendar, Sunday's Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh has become the race that relaunches luminaries thanks mainly to the importance that Coolmore has placed on it in recent times. Following the success of Montjeu at the turn of the millennium, the likes of Hurricane Run, Duke of Marmalade and So You Think have bolstered their already impressive resumes here and there will be some disappointed people among that mighty operation if Camelot does not follow suit. For so much of last season the poster boy of the classic generation, Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor and Susan Magnier's beau ideal came unstuck in the St Leger at Doncaster in September and bowed out with a no-show in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp the following month. Now fully recovered from a life-threatening bout of colic, the Two Thousand Guineas and Epsom and Irish Derby hero looked to have kept all his zip when staging a winning return in easy style in the Mooresbridge S. over this track and 10-furlong trip May 6. "He had a nice comeback run and did exactly what was hoped," Joseph O'Brien told PA Sport. "The small field won't matter to him, it doesn't make a difference if they go quick or slow. If they go quick he can sit handy and if they go slow he's got that turn of foot. He stays the trip well enough and it will be decent ground, so I'm looking forward to it as he's a real good-ground horse." While this race has not been kind to British raiders recently, the presence of Al Kazeem makes this race more interesting than it otherwise would have been. Impressive when annexing the Jockey Club at Newmarket a year ago, John Deer's bay returned from a spell on the sidelines to pick up where he left off in Sandown's Gordon Richards over 10 furlongs last time April 27. The third on that occasion, Ektihaam, has since boosted the form at Ascot and trainer Roger Charlton is expecting a bold show. "I've been hugely impressed by Camelot from the moment I saw him at Tattersalls Sales as a young horse and he's very talented," he told PA Sport. "It would have been disappointing for racing if we hadn't turned up. "Realistically, Camelot has won five Group 1s and we are running in one for the first time, so we have a bit to prove but I think it's fair to say Al Kazeem has improved. It could be a muddle of a race with a small field and obviously Camelot has a good turn of foot, so it's a tough situation." Sunday's Group 3 Gallinule was a favorite race of the late Dr. Vincent O'Brien, and although it seems incredible that the maestro's record of 15 wins is under threat, that is the case as the latest composer of the orchestra at Ballydoyle seeks his 12th today. Namesake Aidan has unleashed few of the stable's stars in this Irish Derby prep, but Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier and Michael Tabor's Leading Light could yet live up to his name if his latest performance is a guide. Making all to score by seven lengths from the stakes performer Dibayani in a 10-furlong conditions event at Navan on his sophomore debut May 7, he had the re-opposing Fighter Squadron a further 2 1/4 lengths back in third in a striking display. Two colts already proven in black-type company are Neil Jones's Little White Cloud and Robert Ng's Sruthan. The former held his own against the big guns when third in Leopardstown's Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial a fortnight ago, while Sruthan impressed when annexing the Tetrarch Stakes over seven furlongs at this circuit May 6. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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