Interesting maiden fare at Navan The In-form team of Dermot Weld and Pat Smullen are strongly represented at Navan and many eyes will focus on their Aasheq when he contests the Kilberry (C&G) Maiden. The Hamdan Al Maktoum three-year-old is a Dubawi colt out of the Group One runner-up Beach Bunny and went off the well-backed 11-10 favourite when debuting at the Curragh a fortnight ago. In that mile and a quarter event, Aasheq narrowly lost out to new Epsom Derby favourite, US Army Ranger, with the pair nicely ahead. Beach Bunny has already produced Naadirr and Beach Belle, both classy over shorter distances. It would be reasonable to expect then, that Aasheq will enjoy the step back to a mile. Weld has Aasheq well entered up so many will now justifiably expect him to get the better of the Ballydoyle runner, The Gurkha. The latter's supporters will point to the fact that he's got the prime draw in stall one, though. Half-an-hour earlier, in the Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Fillies Maiden, Creme De La is the one that the Rosewell House maestro sends into battle. Smullen will don the Calumet Farms silks on this chestnut. The American-bred would definitely be a deserving winner having finished third and second on her couple of outings to date. Her Cork conqueror from last month, Jet Setting, has gone on to take the Group Three Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial Stakes recently. Aidan O'Brien's Earring is a beautifully bred opponent for Creme De La. She's got Ryan Moore up for her racecourse bow, while Elusive Approach certainly isn't one to discount either. The other maiden on the programme, the juvenile race backed by the Irish Stallion Farms and the European Breeders Fund, is for fillies. Only three of the nine have run before so a market check is strongly advised for this sprint.
