Weekend Horse Racing: O’Brien Eyeing More Group Race Glory

The flat racing season rumbles on this weekend, with big meetings scheduled to take place in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The Irish Oaks at The Curragh is the standout race and this year’s renewal looks set to be dominated by top trainer Aidan O’Brien.

He saddles half of the entries in the field and it would be no surprise to see him scoop plenty of the prize money on offer on Saturday.

Read on as we preview the Irish Oaks, before taking a look at some of the other top races featured on horse racing betting sites this weekend.

O’Brien is generally a trainer to follow in Group 1 events and he has an extremely strong hand in the Irish Oaks at The Curragh on Saturday.

Epsom Oaks runner-up Savethelastdance is the favourite on new betting sites and it would be no surprise to see her win under jockey Ryan Moore.

However, O’Brien’s Warm Heart looks more than capable of running a solid race after her recent dominant performance in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Warm Heart is a best-priced 7/2 with BetUK and those odds will attract punters who believe she can continue her steep upward progression.

Art Power makes a quick return to action this weekend after running a fine race in defeat in the July Cup at Newmarket last Saturday.

The Tim Easterby-trained sprinter will drop back to five furlongs in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes and looks a good bet at odds of 13/8 on several betting apps.

Art Power made it three-out-of-three on his most recent visit to The Curragh, winning the Greenlands Stakes by almost five lengths in May.

The six-year-old has been a big money-spinner for the Easterby stable and he is strongly fancied to put more Euros into the coffers on Saturday

The Group 3 Hackwood Stakes at Newbury looks a difficult puzzle to unravel, with several talented sprinters set to take their place in the line-up.

Frankie Dettori will be a popular pick aboard Lezoo, who has her sights lowered after finishing tenth in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

However, Jim Crowley has recorded four wins in the last eight runnings of this race and could add to his tally with Richard Hannon’s Ehraz.

The four-year-old wears blinkers for the first time and looks a decent each-way shout on UK betting sites at odds of around 11/1.