While all eyes were on the Cheltenham Festival, Arizona Blaze was busy putting himself in the 2000 Guineas picture with a blistering display at Dundalk last Friday.

Adrian Murray has hit the ground running at the start of 2025 with his predominantly Amo Racing-owned flat string and the son of Sergei Prokofiev was the latest to advertise his well-being on his return to action.

An ultra-consistent performer at two, he won twice but also made the podium in a stack of high-class contests, including at Royal Ascot and in his final outing of the year when runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar.

Having thrilled his handler on his reappearance, Arizona Blaze will now head for a Guineas trial as connections attempt to garner evidence to tempt them into a Classic tilt.

“He was very impressive and did it very well,” said Murray. “He’s a class horse and proved he’s trained on and I think there will be plenty of improvement in him, too.

“I think he’ll go for a Guineas trial next and we’re not sure if he’ll stay seven furlongs or a mile as he as an awful lot of speed.

“But we’re going to give it a go and try him over seven furlongs in one of the trials and that will hopefully tell us a lot about what the campaign will be for him over the summer.”

Hat-trick

Arizona Blaze started life in the first juvenile race of the year on turf at the Curragh that Murray won for the third successive year on Sunday with the exciting Power Blue.

Murray’s Group 1-winning Bucanero Fuerte is another graduate of that early-season contest, and owned by the LNA Racing Syndicate, Power Blue produced a professional display to come home almost four lengths clear of the opposition – a victory that has his handler already plotting a route to the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.

“He’s a very nice horse and he was probably the most impressive of my three winners in that race,” continued Murray.

“He just kept on going and David (Egan, jockey) said the further he went the better he was.

“The Coventry would be the long-term plan with him, but the horse will tell us between here and then – we’re hoping he’ll get there. He’ll go to the Listed race (First Flier Stakes, May 5th) next.”

Also hoping to play himself into Murray and Amo’s Royal Ascot reckoning is Titanium Emperor, who impressed when downing Aidan O’Brien’s heavy favourite Mount Kilimanjaro in decisive fashion on debut at Dundalk earlier this month.

Murray added: “He’s a good horse, a very nice horse. I don’t know where we’ll go next, but he’s hopefully a Royal Ascot horse as well for down the road.

“We’ll try to pick up a race or two before then and see where we get to, but I think he’s a very nice horse.

“On that debut performance you would definitely think he is a group horse and he’s cracking. You’d like to think he will be running in some of the nicer races when we get to Ascot.”