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Ursa Major returns to action at the Curragh

Ursa Major Ursa Major
© Photo Healy Racing

Ursa Major is unbeaten in three efforts at the Curragh and returns to the track after a long lay-off for the Listed TRM Silver Stakes.

Johnny Murtagh 's five-year-old is taken on by two from the yard of Jim Bolger, who won the race with subsequent Irish Derby winner Trading Leather last year.

Bolger's Parish Hall is top-rated of the 10-strong field on a mark of 113 and the Coolcullen maestro has back-up in the shape of hardy four-year-old Einsteins Folly who has a rating of 98.

Ursa Major is right in the mix assessed as he is as a 107 performer, but we have not seen the son of Galileo since a fourth-placed effort behind Encke in the 2012 Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster.

Murtagh explained: "He hurt his leg in the spring of last year, knocking a ligament at the back of one of his joints. It held him up quite a bit and we didn't want to rush him back, so he had the whole of last year off.

"He's had a great winter and has done very well, and we're hoping that this year he can get back into the swing of things and reproduce what he did as a three-year-old.

"He could go all the way to the top and he stays well, with a mile and a half to a mile and six no bother to him with cut in the ground.

"He's a very exciting horse for this year and hopefully he'll stay in one piece and we can have a bit of fun with him again."

In what is a very well-contested affair, several have official ratings in excess of 100 and this grouping also includes John Oxx's pair Qewy and Harasiya Aidan O'Brien's El Salvador who is in first-time blinkers having worn cheekpieces and a hood before, and Tommy Stack's Alive Alive Oh