Brave back for more at the Curragh Wicklow Brave returns to the scene of last season's Irish St Leger success for Sunday's Comer Group International Curragh Cup. The eight-year-old provided Willie Mullins with his first and only Classic victory to date when striking gold over the course and distance last September in the hands of Frankie Dettori. He was bitterly disappointing in the Melbourne Cup, but returned to jumping in the spring and claimed the Punchestown Champion Hurdle in the hands of the trainer's son Patrick in late April. The son of Beat Hollow was back on the level in the Belmont Gold Cup a shade over three weeks ago, finishing a creditable fourth, and looks the one to beat back on home soil. Wicklow Brave faces six rivals in the one-mile-six-furlong Group Two contest. The Dermot Weld-trained Forgotten Rules was a close-up third in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot a couple of years ago, but has failed to rediscover that form since. He was third in a conditions race at Leopardstown on his only previous outing this season. Fiona Craig, bloodstock advisor to owner-breeders Moyglare Stud, said: "The horse is fit and well and he's bouncing along at the moment. "Unfortunately, they didn't get the rain that we'd hoped for on Thursday. He obviously ran a brilliant race in the Gold Cup on fast ground a couple of years ago, but he hasn't been the same horse since. "He definitely prefers heavy ground, but at the end of the day he's a seven-year-old gelding now." Rekindling is an interesting contender for trainer Joseph O'Brien. The three-year-old won the Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown and was fourth in the Dante at York in the spring, but the Epsom Derby proved a bridge too far. He steps up in trip but down in grade this weekend. "He was a bit disappointing in the Derby, but he just didn't handle the track at all. He'll run in the Curragh Cup and we think the longer trip is what he wants," O'Brien told At The Races. "I would be happy to give him another go on good ground, but a little ease in it suits him well." British hopes rest on the Mick Channon-trained Elidor. Aidan O'Brien's pair of Belgravia and Wisconsin and Stellar Mass from Jim Bolger's yard make up the field.
