“IF he turns up the same horse or slightly better, I just can’t have anything in the race to beat him.”

Dave Loughnane’s views on Go Bears Go may have sounded a bit bullish last week but they look pretty on the money now because his Kodi Bear colt is the one to beat in the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh tomorrow (4:10).

The bookmakers think so anyway, installing Go Bears Go as the 2/1 favourite as of yesterday evening for what would be a remarkable success for the trainer and fellow Galwegian Rossa Ryan, both in the burgeoning stages of their promising careers.

In truth, this looks as winnable a Group 1 as they come and the prime reason for Loughnane’s optimism will derive from the fact that Go Bears Go has beaten his nearest market rivals, Castle Star and Dr Zempf, comfortably in last month’s Railway Stakes. Indeed that Railway Stakes looks as good as tomorrow’s race, and it’s often the race that provides the Phoenix winner – Lucky Vega finished second in the Group 2 last year before scooting home in Phoenix, while Siskin doubled up the year before.

The Juddmonte horse is noteworthy, having provided Ger Lyons with his first top-level success on home soil, and the Meath trainer has chosen to rely solely on Dr Zempf, having also had the option of running Anglesey winner Beauty Impulse, presuming that horse hasn’t picked up a knock.

There is 13mm of rain forecast for the Curragh today and that will give both the Dr Zempf and Castle Star camps hope, considering both colts are previous winners on easy ground. Castle Star would also be providing Fozzy Stack with his first Group 1.

Aidan O’Brien hasn’t won this since 2017 and it’s unusual that again he appears without a leading chance, but he often runs a good two-year-old here, notably St Mark’s Basilica last season. With that in mind, it is perhaps significant that he has declared the filly Prettiest, who Ryan Moore will ride.

No filly has won this since La Collina in 2011 but from a small pool, those that have tried since have acquitted themselves very well with the 3lb allowance. Aloha Star and So Perfect finished second last year and in 2018 respectively while Actress was third in 2017.

Prettiest, a Dubawi daughter of the multiple Group 1-winning Alice Springs, won first time out in Navan before finishing a creditable fifth in an Albany Stakes that has worked out well. She had excuses for her previous run and it won’t be a surprise if she goes well tomorrow.

THE Shergar Cup may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it more than serves its purpose as a more fun version of racing, more attractive to the casual fan, and that is evidenced by the huge crowds the fixture has attracted down the years, often soaring as high as 30,000.

Usually the event poses an extra challenge to punters, given the unfamiliar jockeys riding at an unfamiliar track on unfamiliar horses, but 10 of the 12 riders today ply their trade in Britain and will have plenty of Ascot experience. What’s more, all six races are handicaps, designed to be as competitive as possible, and with many bookmakers offering attractive each-way terms, what’s not to like?

The teams format, tweaked regularly over the last decade, is currently as follows: a Great Britain team, an Ireland team, a Ladies’ team and a Rest of the World team. Points are awarded to the first five horses to finish in each of the six races as follows – winner: 15 points; second: 10 points; third: seven points; fourth: five points; fifth: three points.

The Irish team is made up of Wicklow native Joe Fanning, Kildare’s David Egan and UAE-based Cork native Tadhg O’Shea. Surprisingly, Ireland has only been involved with one win in the last eight years and they have been made outsiders of the four teams with Paddy Power (100/30) to improve that trend today.

The favourites are the Ladies team (15/8), made up of a Shergar Cup veteran in Hayley Turner with Nicola Currie and Mickaëlle Michel, champion apprentice in France in 2018 and the only foreign jockey to have partnered 30 winners on a short-term licence on Japan’s NAR circuit.

All three jockeys on the Rest of the World team (3/1) are based in Britain: Italian Andrea Atzeni, Danish Kevin Stott and the Swaziland-born Sean Levey, while the British team (5/2) consists of Adam Kirby, Cieren Fallon and James Doyle.

Nicola Currie leads a wide-open race for top-jockey honours at 9/2 with Tadhg O’Shea rated Ireland’s best chance at 7/1.

BEN Curtis is currently in the best position to secure a windfall one-off bonus payment of £100,000 in the Sky Bet Sunday Series.

The sponsors have put up the bonus for any jockey who rides seven winners at the three assigned Sunday fixtures. Curtis rode a double at the first meeting at Musselburgh two weekends ago and has a ride in all six races at Haydock tomorrow. The Cork native has been well-supported by his boss, Mark Johnston, but will probably need at least a double to give himself any chance of reaching the magic seven winners at the final meeting at Sandown on August 22nd. The pilot series also has £100,000 up for grabs for the owner of any horse that wins at all three meetings. The series is designed to promote Sunday racing in Britain, a source of debate among industry participants in recent months.