Marengo leads O'Brien duo in Beresford Battle Of Marengo leads Aidan O'Brien's two-pronged attack on the Juddmonte Beresford Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday. The Ballydoyle trainer has won this Group Two contest over a mile for two-year-olds 11 times and Battle Of Marengo is likely to be a warm order to make it a dozen triumphs. O'Brien also has Kingston Jamaica after a field of just five were declared. The trainer's son, Joseph O'Brien, rides Battle Of Marengo and is hopeful of a big show. The Galileo colt followed up an 11-length romp at Gowran when defeating the highly-promising Trading Leather, a good winner since, at Leopardstown three weeks ago. "We hope Battle Of Marengo can run a nice race. He seems to have come through his last race OK and hopefully he can run well," said the jockey. "The saddle slipped in his last run. Hopefully that won't happen again. He seems to be improving with racing. "Probably is a Group Two winner in the race so he would be hard to beat, and he handles soft ground well." Probably is David Wachman's representative after the County Tipperary withdrew Galileo Rock at the final declaration stage because the ground is unsuitable. "Probably seems in good form and we'll see what happens," Wachman said of the Railway Stakes winner, who was fourth to Dawn Approach in the Vincent O'Brien Stakes earlier this month. "Galileo Rock wants good ground. There are a couple of options. We will just have to play it by ear with the ground." First Cornerstone was another notable absentee from the final declarations after trainer Andrew Oliver found the Futurity Stakes winner was not quite 100%. "This week something became apparent and we weren't quite sure how good a form he was in," said the County Tyrone handler. "He was scoped just before declaration time and we weren't completely happy with everything. "Something will come to light, I'm quite sure of it. It's nothing serious, but at this level, and with the horse of that calibre, everything has to be right. "We did want to run in this race - it has cut up and I would have loved to have been there - but the best thing has to be done for the horse."
