Adrian Murray’s sprinting aces face off in Flying Five

Adrian Murray believes Bucanero Fuerte and Arizona Blaze are his “two best chances” of the weekend ahead of their battle for Bar One Racing Flying Five Stakes glory.

The handler’s pair are leading contenders behind Australian star Asfoora in the market, with Bucanero Fuerte unbeaten in his two starts this season and Arizona Blaze collecting two Group prizes during a busy campaign.

The former was last seen winning the Phoenix Sprint Stakes by a length and a quarter in August and Murray is expecting another strong display at the Curragh, especially in the hands of six-times Irish champion jockey Colin Keane.

“He’s great, we are very happy with him. We are expecting a big, big run from him,” Murray said.

“If he shows up on the day, he will be bang there. The ground will not be an issue for him.

“We have the best of the best, we are delighted to have him (Keane).”

Arizona Blaze finished in midfield in the Nunthorpe at the Ebor Festival, but won the Prix Sigy at Chantilly earlier in the year and landed the Sapphire Stakes over course and distance on his penultimate start.

“He’s good. The last run was a little bit disappointing, so hopefully he can bounce back this time,” Murray said.

“The ground again won’t be an issue for him. The last day he was a little bit slow to start with, he was a little bit on the back foot and never really got into it. The race didn’t go his way.

“Normally he jumps well and likes to be up there. He very rarely runs a bad race, he’s always there.

“I’d say over the whole weekend, they are our best two chances.”

Asfoora celebrated Nunthorpe success on the Knavesmire last time out and trainer Henry Dwyer is confident of another top performance on her fourth European start this season.

“Asfoora came out of winning the Nunthorpe at York very well. I would say she is at, or very near, her peak now,” he said.

“I can’t be there with her at present, I am back in Australia, but my team have been with her all the way and they feel she has improved since York.

“This will be her fourth run in Europe this year and we have to be hopeful of another big run.

“We just hope the ground can remain on the good side. She will be OK on good to soft, but we can’t do much about the surface.”

Tim Easterby’s Art Power, fourth behind Bucanero Fuerte on his only appearance this campaign in the Phoenix Sprint Stakes, could be in contention with the ground having eased.

“He had a small injury at the start of the season and then the ground was too firm,” said Alastair Donald, racing manager to owners King Power Racing.

“He had a nice warm up for this at the Curragh about a month ago, he’s finally got his ground and he obviously goes great at the Curragh.

“It looks open and the favourite may have run on soft ground in Australia, but I don’t think she will have encountered this kind of ground before.”

Night Raider has been operating in Pattern company all campaign and placed twice at York, which gives connections confidence in the slower conditions.

“Karl (Burke, trainer) has been happy with him since York, where he ran a great race. He said he’s looking fantastic and hopefully one of these big sprints will fall his way soon,” said Richard Brown, racing adviser for owners Wathnan Racing.

“I’m not sure about the ground and we will decide nearer the time, but I would be leaning towards him taking his chance.

“Dark Angels do like a bit of give in the ground and that would give us some encouragement, and he did run well at Goodwood after the rain and won his side pretty well.

“I don’t think it will be perfect for him, but they all have to race on it and it might just inconvenience others more than him – although there might be something in there that loves it!”

In the 16-runner field, Jack Davison’s She’s Quality looks to finally land a Group race after four successive runner-up finishes this season.

The home team are also represented by Aidan O’Brien’s Whistlejacket, Joseph O’Brien’s Lady With The Lamp, the Andrew Slattery-trained Powerful Nation, Erosandpsyche for Daniel Murphy, Jessica Harrington’s Saratoga Special and Fozzy Stack’s pair of Two Stars and Grande Marques.

Ed Walker fields Mgheera, David O’Meara has Nighteyes and Charlie Fellowes’ Vadream completes the British challengers.