IT’S 10 years since Mick Winters’ wonder mare Missunited swapped Galway for Goodwood, when winning her final start in the Group 2 Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes. Aidan O’Brien, Henry de Bromhead and Joseph O’Brien each send a filly to end British trainers’ stranglehold on today’s mile-and-six-furlong test worth £300,000.

Missunited’s pilot Jim Crowley has been booked to ride Ballydoyle representative Grateful, who was last seen beating Saturday’s rival Dancing Tango in the Group 3 Stanerra Stakes. Surpisingly, O’Brien has yet to win the race, while Crowley shares leading rider status at three winners.

De Bromhead’s Term Of Endearment comes off the back of her second pattern success in the Group 3 Bronte Cup over Saturday’s trip, though the good-to-firm ground remains an unknown for the five-year-old mare. Billy Lee takes over from Rachael Blackmore, while Joseph O’Brien has booked Sean Levey for Fishdance’s homebred Dancing Tango.

“She’s a listed winner and she’s been running consistently well in group races,” O’Brien said of his contender. “She’s a nice broodmare prospect for her owner in the future, so we’re trying to get as much blacktype as we can. It would be great if she could sneak into the top three.”

On whether the ground is a concern, the trainer commented, “Her best form is probably on softer ground, but she’s actually ran very well on a quicker surface as well. So probably to be seen at her best, she would like it a bit softer, but she has performed well on the drier surface too.”

Classic aspirations

O’Brien enjoyed a stellar week at Galway, with five wins led by big-race success in the Colm Quinn Mile and Galway Hurdle. He is hoping to break new ground on Sunday, as Je Zous bids to become the first Irish-trained winner of the Group 1 Preis der Diana at Dusseldorf.

“It looks a good race, as you’d expect of a classic,” he says. “She’s had a good preparation, she’ll handle the track and she won’t mind a bit of juice in the ground. I think she has an each-way chance and hopefully she runs well.”

The daughter of Zoustar outran odds of 66/1 in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes last time out, where she finished a length behind subsequent Irisk Oaks heroine You Got Me. She was ridden patiently that day, while prominent tactics on her two previous starts earned her blacktype at Group 3 level.

The last Irish trainer to contest the German Oaks was Aidan O’Brien, for whom Irish Oaks runner-up Toy was a well-beaten favourite in 2022, having lost two front shoes. Two years prior to that, the Jessica Harrington-trained Silence Please finished fourth to John Gosden’s raider Miss Yoda.

Karl Burke enjoyed success at the track earlier this season when Darnation landed the German 1000 Guineas and she returns on Saturday following a Group 3 second.

Kirsten Rausing’s homebred Lingua Franca is the only other British raider, with Sir Mark Prescott’s Hamburg listed winner having been solely campaigned in Germany this season.