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WITH the Grand National just around the corner, flat racing is beginning to rule the roost over its jumping counterparts and there is a pivotal meeting at Curragh this afternoon and also at Leopardstown tomorrow as the Irish boys begin to sort the wheat from the chaff as far as their Classic pretenders are concerned.

Epsom Derby third White Birch lines up for the Group Three Alleged Stakes (2.55) over a mile and a quarter, and as long as they don’t dawdle along, the heavy ground should make it a nice test of speed and stamina for the son of Ulysses. Still, I think that the winner of last year’s Ballysax Stakes was very disappointing post Epsom and I much prefer the claims of Joseph O’Brien’s lightly raced filly MAXUX.

Unlike her aforementioned rival, she finished last season on an upward curve culminating in an impressive success in a Group Three at Fairyhouse, when the daughter of Frankel seemed to relish the testing conditions on route to easily seeing off American Sonja to the tune of four-and-a-quarter lengths. Of course she needs to take another step forward here to land this quality renewal, but gets the vote over John Joseph Murphy’s charge and Mashoor.