Shamida lands the hat-trick

Shamida made it three wins from four starts and claimed her second Pattern race success in the Group 3 Irish St Leger Trial at the Curragh on Sunday. Dermot Weld's filly is improving with every start and followed her wins at Leopardstown with a gutsy display against three older horses trained by Joseph O'Brien. The daughter of Australia looked like winning comfortably when breezing to the front but was forced to dig deep late on to fend off the challenge of Royal Ascot winner Dawn Rising prevailing by half a length. The pair pulled six lengths clear of the rest and another rise in grade looks on the cards. She has more than justified her position in the Maidens In Waiting section in Ahead On The Flat and there could be more to come from her.

Just a reminder that the York Ebor Festival Update will be emailed to clients on Monday evening - please head to the Publications section of the site if you haven't ordered your copy. On Sunday morning, I spoke to Joe Foley, racing manager for Clipper Logistics, and he gave me the rundown on their runners on the Knavesmire this week, including a couple of interesting 'dark' ones. Joe also kindly passed on news of some unraced two year olds who are held in high regard and will be making their debuts shortly. In addition, the Update includes an ante-post selection for one of my favourite races of the year, the Ayr Gold Cup, which takes place on Saturday 23rd September.