Greenlands Stakes Tips The Curragh's three-day Irish Guineas Festival heads through halfway on Saturday afternoon with an exciting eight-race card that includes the 2000 Guineas and the Group 2 Greenlands Stakes as the aperitif. The Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes (due off at 15:05) is set to be run over six furlongs with €72,000 on offer to the winner and a field of nine runners were declared, with Aidan O'Brien's Aussie import Stormy Boy the headliner. Our racing expert has a couple of selections for the Curragh contest. Greenlads Stakes Tips Selection: My Mate Alfie Next Best: Iberian Novibet Betting Offer If you already have a Novibet account, check out more of the best betting sites and casino bonuses Storm Boy the one to watch Aidan O'Brien unleashes Australian import Storm Boy for the first time here and he could be a superstar in the making. He ran well in four races in the last Australian spring for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, including a Group 3 win, before fetching an eye-watering fee reported to be A$50million as the Coolmore powers snapped him up. The Coolmore operation is placing enormous stock in Justify as a colt, and this latest Antipodean purchase is yet more evidence of that. With the great Galileo now departed, Coolmore is looking for the next generational stallion and O'Brien certainly hasn't minced his words in that regard. "Justifys are Galileos with more class, which is a very hard thing to say, but we see it every day," he opined. "The stride, the minds, the movement of them, they are quicker than Galileos, which makes them unbelievably exciting for us." That is the highest of praise and so, with Ryan Moore for company, all eyes will be on Storm Boy. My Mate Alfie could weather the storm MY MATE ALFIE is a four-year-old with plenty going for him and the Ger Lyons-trained Dark Angel gelding should be sharper for his comeback at Gowran Park. That was in Listed company and he was second-best behind Two Stars, a seemingly still improving five-year-old for trainer Fozzy Stack. The pair were a long way clear of everything else and Two Stars had the benefit of a winning comeback under his belt. My Mate Alfie would have been 7lb better off with the winner had they been meeting in a handicap, so a half-length defeat was no mishap. He ended last season with a hat-trick of wins, taking out a €90 handicap here over C&D and then a Group 3 back here a fortnight later and a Listed race at Naas to sign off as he made light of a penalty. He may well have more to offer now under Colin Keane. Iberian may lead raiding party There are four UK-based contenders in the field, with Grand Grey for Kevin Ryan, James's Delight for Clive Cox, Lethal Levi for Karl Burke and the Charles Hills-trained IBERIAN. The Lope De Vega colt won the Group Champagne Stakes at Doncaster in September 2023 before coming up short in the Dewhurst at Newmarket. His only runs last year were Group 1s at Newmarket - the 2000 Guineas - and Deauville - Prix Jean Prat - and he was well beaten in both instances. He won a Conditions event at Southwell in the depths of winter dropped to 6f and only narrowly failed over the same trip behind Spycatcher at Doncaster in the Listed Cammidge Trophy Stakes during their Lincoln meeting in March. He may have a bit more to give as a sprinter.
