English raider ruled out of Sapphire Noble Storm will not take up his entry in the Dubai Duty Free Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday. English trainer Ed McMahon will instead aim the five-year-old sprinter at a Listed contest in a couple of weeks as a potential stepping-stone to victory at Group Three level. McMahon is, however, holding fire as Noble Storm is slightly under the weather. "He won a nice Listed race at Haydock for me, but he's not going to run at the Curragh," said McMahon. "He's just picked up a bit of something so I'm going to try to bring him back for a Listed race in a couple of weeks' time. I want to try to win a Group Three with him. "I toyed with the idea of putting him in the Nunthorpe but the Group Three I've got in mind for him comes at about the same time. "If I can win a Group Three with him this year, he should still be just as good as a six-year-old and then go for a Group One next season." Ground conditions will decide whether Elusive Pimpernel will travel to the Curragh to contest Friday's Irish Daily Mail International Stakes. John Dunlop's colt only ran twice as a three-year-old, winning the Craven Stakes and finishing fifth in 2000 Guineas before injury ended his season. There was nothing wrong with his comeback third in the Earl Of Sefton Stakes after nearly a year off, but he failed to build on that promising effort when only sixth behind Workforce at Sandown. Patrick Cooper, racing manager for owner Christina Patino, who runs the colt under the Windflower Overseas Holdings name, feels conditions went against the four-year-old in Esher and he sees little point in running him on soft ground again later this week. "The intention is to run at the moment, although I need to speak to Mr Dunlop again and it very much depends on the ground," said Cooper. "He had most of last year off but we were happy with his comeback run at Newmarket and then he was unlucky at Sandown after the ground changed dramatically. "The heavens opened and he just can't operate on that softer ground, which is why we'll be keeping an eye on it for later this week."
