O'Brien duo bid for Oaks glory Aidan O'Brien is double-handed in his bid to win the Darley Irish Oaks for a sixth time at the Curragh on Saturday. Wayne Lordan partners Alluringly, who was third in the Investec Oaks and sixth in the Ribblesdale, while Seamie Heffernan gets the leg-up on recent Pretty Polly runner-up Rain Goddess. O'Brien said: "Alluringly is in good form. She ran a bit disappointing in Ascot and we're not sure the reason why, but she seems to be in good form since. "It's a step up to a mile and a half for the other filly (Rain Goddess) and we're not sure about that. "She seemed to get the mile and a quarter OK at the Curragh last time, so we'll find out a lot more about her, but we couldn't be sure about the mile and a half." John Oxx won back-to-back renewals of the Irish Oaks with Ebadiyla (1997) and Winona (1998), but has failed to add to his tally since. This year the Currabeg handler launches a twin assault, with Ribblesdale disappointment Naughty Or Nice set to be joined by stablemate Bengala. Naughty Or Nice won each of her first two starts before the saddle slipped at Ascot. "Her first two runs were promising and the form has worked out quite well," said Oxx. "She had a bit of a disaster when she ran at Royal Ascot. We didn't find out anything about her. "On ratings she has quite a bit to find with Enable, obviously, but after Enable, who looks outstanding, the rest of them are much of a muchness, I suppose. "You'd be hard pressed to pick the second-best filly at the moment and I think it's an open race apart from the favourite. "Everybody thinks they might have a chance of being in the first four."
