Will the 'Force' Return?

After a scarcely-believable first half of his 3-year-old campaign, Air Force Blue (War Front) is placed almost back to square one on Sunday as he lines up for the G3 Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club Phoenix Sprint S. at The Curragh. While his initial two disappointments when 12th in the G1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket Apr. 30 and seventh in the Irish equivalent here three weeks later can be blamed on a combination of rain-softened ground and lack of stamina for a mile, his latest effort in the G1 July Cup is more concerning. Last year's G1 Phoenix S., G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. and G1 Dewhurst S. hero was denied a clear run at a crucial stage in that July 9 Newmarket highlight, but he lacked his old zip even before he ran into a dead-end. “We were very happy with his run at Newmarket, he nearly went to the line on the bridle and Ryan was very happy,” Aidan O'Brien commented. “The way the race fell, he was a little slowly away and found himself behind a wall of horses and the wall never split, so he sat away. It might have been a blessing in disguise, as it's a big jump from the Irish Guineas in soft ground into that. He had a very easy race, it was only really like a piece of work to him. We were looking forward to going to France [for the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest] with him, but the ground wasn't there. We're very happy with him at home and looking forward to seeing him run on nice ground.”
Chief opposition may come from Ballylinch Stud's homebred filly Fort Del Oro (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), who comes here on the back of a confidence-restoring win in the Listed Yeomanstown Stud Dark Angel S. over this trip at Naas last time July 20. Third on only her third career start in this 12 months ago, she was second on her penultimate start in the G3 Ballyogan S. over this track and trip June 4 and will be there to pick up the pieces if Air Force Blue fails to fire again. That also applies to Godolphin's Toscanini (Ire) (Shamardal), who beat Flight Risk (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) in the June 25 Listed Dash S. over this course and distance before finishing third in the G3 Minstrel S. over seven furlongs here July 17.