The 2,000 Guineas runner-up Native Trail will bid to go one better in the Irish equivalent race this weekend at the Curragh.

The first Irish classic of the season takes place at the Kildare venue, with strong fields likely to assemble for the 2,000 Guineas (on Saturday) and 1,000 Guineas (Sunday).

Native Trail was only just beaten by his stablemate Coroebus at Newmarket, but emerged with plenty of credit, and he returns to the scene of his Group 1 National Stakes victory last September.

His chief rival is likely to be Joseph O’Brien’s Buckaroo, who was a revelation when dropped back to the Guineas distance of one mile on his previous run.

Fillies

The fillies equivalent race on Sunday looks more open, with Dermot Weld’s Homeless Songs topping the market. She won the 1,000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown and has been saved for this race since.

Aidan O’Brien, who looks short on contenders for the 2,000 Guineas, should have a better hand here with History, Lullaby and Concert Hall all likely to run.

The Tattersalls Gold Cup is also another Group 1 contest run on Sunday and for many the biggest lure of the weekend will be State Of Rest. Joseph O’Brien’s colt is a Group 1 winner in three different continents, and this will probably be the last time Irish racing fans will have to see him with another international campaign on his agenda later this year.

Anyone who went to Newbury on Saturday got to see another superstar in Baaeed, who easily kept his unbeaten record in the Lockinge Stakes.

William Haggas’s colt is likely to be rated the best miler in the world now and is already odds-on to land another Group 1 in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.