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OWL ON COURSE FOR THE CURRAGH

Arctic Owl heads to the Curragh on Saturday for the Jefferson Smurfit Memorial Irish St Leger.

James Fanshawe`s charge bounced back to form at Ascot last time, beating subsequent Geoffrey Freer Stakes winner Murghem in the Shergar Cup Classic.

The gelding steps back up to a mile and three-quarters having scored under the seemingly unfavourable circumstances of fast ground and 12 furlongs at Ascot.

Fanshawe said today: 'I hope he runs as well as he did at Ascot because he`d have a good chance in the race.

'I don`t know what the ground`s going to be like at the Curragh. The rain has been very local and we`ll have to see what the forecast is like.

'But if the ground is on the faster side it doesn`t seem to be as big a problem as it has been.'

Connections will wait to see how the six-year-old runs in Ireland before deciding whether to send Arctic Owl to the Foster`s Melbourne Cup in November.

'There are a few options for him,' Fanshawe added.

'We`ll get next Saturday out of the way first and then see where we`re heading but he`ll be left in the Melbourne Cup at the next forfeit stage.'