LEAVING aside the Irish Derby meeting at the end of the month, fans of Irish racing have gotten used to fallow weekends in June over recent years, Saturdays and Sundays either holding moderate cards or left entirely blank.

HRI have done better this year, however, a good meeting at Navan the Sunday before last followed by an even better one this past week at Cork, where the featured Munster Oaks produced a promising winner in Sparan Nua.

She has quickly become one of the bright new things of Irish racing and while her margin of victory was only half a length, she shaped a fair bit better than that.

The round track at Cork tends to favour horses that race forward, especially on decent ground, and even more so when the pace is steady as it was here.

After some fast initial splits, the gallop slowed down mid-race and Sparan Nua needed to produce a finishing speed percentage of 111% (per Course Track) to come from mid-division and pick up Nyra who travelled best and had a very kind trip through the race tracking the leader.

Good attitude

Sparan Nua herself went well for much of the contest before racing green when asked for effort, understandable given her debut came just five weeks ago, but she showed a good attitude to lead late and should kept improving.

The Irish Oaks will demand more, especially with Thundering On producing a generational performance at Epsom, but she is thriving just now.

The other stakes race on the card was the Midsummer Sprint. It was weak for a listed race, no British runner travelling, but Kate McGivern produced Kendall Roy to win off a 115-day absence, wearing cheekpieces for the first time.

There was premier handicap action in the Mallow Handicap over seven furlongs, several horses coming on from the Habitant at the Curragh over Guineas Weekend.

That race produced the three placed horses, but the hitherto frustrating Gleneagle Bay came out on top to give Stephen Thorne a second winner of the turf season, seemingly suited by getting back on decent ground for the first time in a while.

Did well to win

Despite there being 15 runners in the field, the pace was steady, Gleneagle Bay only a couple of lengths slower than Kendal Roy over the final two furlongs, and he did well to win from off the pace, meeting some trouble when making his run too. On this evidence, he might even have the speed to drop down in distance.

A few in this field looked in need of a stiffer test, among them City House and Bint Majestic Roi, while Indigo Dream was the unlucky one. As had been the case in the Habitat, she got no run until the race was over and shaped a lot better than her eighth-place finish.

A keen goer, she will be better when getting a well-run race and her seven-furlong form with the likes of Red Letter and Stateira stacks up well.

A new Moon rising for Mullins

PERHAPS the most impressive winner on the flat in the past week came at Fairyhouse last Friday when Night Moon won the mile and six handicap by seven and a half lengths, having his first run on the flat for Willie Mulllins despite having been bought into the yard all the way back in October 2023.

He was not long after winning a Listowel handicap by eight and a half lengths then for David Marnane, but has been on and off the track since, beaten in four maiden hurdles.

The flat looks his thing though, and he was giving Mullins just his second winner on the level in Britain and Ireland in 2026 from 13 runners. That can be expected to change shortly.

This race was run at a strong gallop and suited hold up horses, the first five home all coming from off the pace to some degree, and the sixth Boxing Great is worth another chance.

Gambled on, he made most of the running and while left behind by the impressive winner, he was only just done out of the places late by a host of closers. He had previously shaped well in the Chester Cup consolation race too.

Interesting sprints

There were some interesting round sprints earlier on the card at Fairyhouse as well. Trean shaped best in the opening six-furlong maiden, making up a huge amount of ground inside the final furlong to be beaten a length having looked in an impossible spot halfway up the straight.

A forward position and a low draw seemed a big advantage in the sprint handicaps; there were three races of these races with at least 12 runners, and only one placed horse had a draw higher than stall six.

Rosato was one that had little chance from stall 12 in the first division of the 0-60 six-furlong race, keeping on well down the outer when her winning chance had gone to finish seventh. Some slower ground and a straight track should help bring out her stamina.

Rodeeve was an impressive winner of the second division of that race, putting a lot of ground between herself and rest despite only getting racing room late, and posted the fastest six-furlong time on the card too. She is unexposed as a sprinter and the cheekpieces seem to have helped.

Midnight Dusk looked an improving sprinter in landing the three-year-old six-furlong handicap, but Nazario shaped well on debut for Johnny Murtagh in fourth, having his first run since last October. Conceding fitness all around, he got no run until very late, but he looks on a good mark and should be winning soon.

Unlikely hero completes Royal Mission

WHEN one thinks of Irish success at Royal Ascot, the King Charles III Stakes might be the last race that comes to mind.

Apart from a period in the mid-2010s, Irish sprinters have struggled for relevance and while Sole Power won it in both 2013 and 2014, he is the only Irish-trained winner this century and none have even made the frame since.

Step forward Mission Central, the hero we didn’t know we needed. Not only a three-year-old, but a Ballydoyle gelding who Aidan O’Brien described as ‘a bit worse than green’ as a juvenile.

O’Brien has done a masterful job with this tricky sort who has now won six of his eight runs since being gelded, though the race here did set up well for him as he sat out of the back off a strong pace, one of just four runners in the 26-strong field to have a finishing speed around 100%, everything else dipping into the 90s.

O’Brien’s other winner on the opening day of Royal Ascot was Great Barrier Reef in the Coventry Stakes, a race that likely provided confusion rather than clarity among the sprinting juvenile colts.

The winner had been passed over by Ryan Moore after a workmanlike success in the Marble Hill and two lengths covered the first eight home.

Moore’s mount Confucius was in amongst them in sixth, but the winner might deserve marking up, doing much the best of those drawn in single figure stalls, while the well-backed Ruler’s Pride is worth another chance. Making his first start for Joseph O’Brien, he was going nicely near the lead before getting hampered a furlong out.

Joseph O’Brien had better luck in the Ascot Stakes where his seven runners produced the first, second, sixth and seventh, the winner Kizlyar and runner-up Defiantly forward throughout. The sixth home, Small Fry, shaped better than the result in coming from the rear of the field, fastest of all in the final furlong.