I’ll Have Another charged from behind to beat Bodemeister by 1-1/2 lengths two weeks ago at Churchill Downs to give himself a chance at becoming the first horse since 1978 to sweep US horse racing’s Triple Crown.

Not since Affirmed did so 34 years ago has a horse completed the treble by sweeping the Derby, the Preakness and next month’s Belmont Stakes in New York.

Bodemeister was made the early favorite, in part because the Preakness is the shortest of the Triple Crown races.

I’ll Have Another ran only three times last year before suffering a shin injury last September.

He did not run again until February this year at Santa Anita and then earned a trip to Kentucky by winning April’s Santa Anita Derby.

The starting order for the Preakness has Tiger Walk starting from the inside rail following outward in order by Teeth Of The Dog, Pretension, Zetterholm, Went The Day Well, Creative Cause, Bodemeister, Daddy Nose Best, I’ll Have Another, Optimizer and Cozzetti.

John Gosden’s filly was having just her third start having run a respectable fourth in the 1000 Guineas 10 days earlier.

She was struck into on that occasion but the damage was only superficial, allowing her wound to heal in time for her to gain valuable experience in the recognised Oaks trial.

However, all the pre-race talk was about Aidan O’Brien’s Twirl, one of a strong contingent of Classic fillies from Ballydoyle this season.

Twirl ended up being sent off the 5-6 favourite allowing The Fugue to start at odds of 15-8 but William Buick was sitting pretty at the two-furlong (400m) marker while Joseph O’Brien was already asking his mount to quicken.

When Buick pressed the button, The Fugue stretched 4-1/2 lengths clear and is now 7-2 favourite (from 12-1) with Coral for the Classic. Betfred and Boylesports are biggest at 5s.

“The better ground has made a big difference to her,” said Gosden.

“She’s a lovely filly and she was unlucky in the Guineas when she was struck into.

“All being well she’ll run at Epsom now, but she wouldn’t want it soft. In case it is, we’ll also leave her in the French Oaks.

“She’s got little ballerina feet that sunk at Newmarket so we just hope it’s not soft at Epsom.

“If Aidan’s horse hadn’t run you could have questioned the form, but they really like her and she was heavily backed.”

The Belgian jockey told Paris-Turf he lacked “chemistry” with the Christophe Ferland-trained three-year-old who won two Group Ones for Frankie Dettori in an unbeaten juvenile campaign.

Soumillon has twice been out of luck aboard Dabirsim who finished sixth in the French Classic at the weekend after he encountered desperate trouble in running.

“I called the owner Simon Springer on Tuesday morning and I explained to him that I would prefer not to ride Dabirsim anymore,” Soumillon said.

“I have gone over my two rides on him and I don’t think I’ve made any big mistakes but you have to look at the facts.

“For some reason which I can’t explain, I don’t seem to get on with the colt.

“I’m not superstitious but the results speak for themselves. The chemistry isn’t there between us.

“Regarding the horse and his connections, I think it’s best for me to step aside and hope that the next jockey can help him rediscover his sparkle.”

Ferland is in no rush to make any firm decisions about who will ride Dabirsim on his next racecourse appearance.

“There are plenty of able riders and the horse is not going to be running very soon, so we have some time to make a decision,” he said.

The French trainer admits his charge is not 100 per cent after his luckless weekend run and is keen to give him time before deciding on his next target which could still be the July Cup at Newmarket.

“The horse is just all right after his run on Sunday,” Ferland said.

“There are plenty of options for him. There is the July Cup, the Prix Jean Prat and the Prix Maurice de Gheest.”

Lloyd, 50, wants it known his decision to quit Hong Kong and base himself at the Gold Coast is not related to thoughts of retirement.

The winner of six South African jockeys’ premierships, Lloyd has six rides at Doomben on Saturday including New Zealander Booming who has drawn barrier three in the Group One Doomben Cup (2000m).

He has four rides for Patinack Farm aboard Gathering (Lord Mayor’s Cup), Boys On Tour (Fred Best Classic), Sookie (Champagne Classic) and Just Been Lucky (Glenlogan Park Stakes) while he’ll also partner the Toby Edmonds-trained Rocksan in the Group Three The Roses.

“I’m here to compete at the highest level and do my best and I’ve got no thoughts of living here in semi-retirement,” Lloyd said.

“I want to ride at all the major carnivals. My plan is to ride trackwork for Patinack Farm as well as at the Gold Coast and in Brisbane.”

Lloyd has ridden in nine countries, winning more than 4500 races and 90 Group Ones during his stellar career.

He knows little about Booming’s ability but plans to study videos of the seven-year-old’s recent New Zealand performances.

“It’s good to be back. I’ve been away for three years after riding for 18 months in Sydney,” Lloyd said.

“I don’t know much about Booming but I’ll be doing my homework and I’ll look at his videos.”

The Jeff Lynds-trained Booming finished fourth in the Group One Auckland Cup (3200m) in March and was given a let-up before his last start fourth in the Listed Manawatu Anzac Handicap (1600m).

“It was a really fantastic run in the Auckland Cup. He was three-wide all the way then had to come 10-wide on the home turn and he still finished fourth,” Lynds said.

Booming arrived for the winter carnival on Tuesday and is being aimed at next month’s Group Two Eagle Farm Cup (2200m) and Group Two Brisbane Cup (2400m).

Lynds had to abort Booming’s Melbourne Cup campaign last spring when he suffered a leg infection following his ninth to Niwot in the Lexus Stakes (2500m) at Flemington in October.

For a seven-year-old, Booming has only been lightly raced with 38 starts for eight wins including two at the top level in the Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie in 2010 and Thorndon Mile at Trentham last year.

Lynds is looking for a good track for Booming and is confident of a strong showing in the weight-for-age feature.

“He’s a handy competitor between 2000 and 2400 metres and he’s proven at weight-for-age,” he said.

The 7yo has won more than $1,200,000 dollars in prizemoney. He has won 3 Grade 1 races in the USA when prepared by Christophe Clemente. He raced he’s juvenille days in Ireland under Dermot Weld.

Racing Ahead host and International form expert Shane Anderson said this about Winchester, ”I’m Not real big on Aged American horses coming to Australia. I think there are better opportunities. It’s form is only ok on International Ratings. Happy to risk”.

Winchester well be prepared by the Malua Racing team whilst in Australia, He’s main aim is likely to be the Caulfield Cup.

Tower Rock, the apparent pacemaker for better-fancied Aidan O’Brien-trained stablemate and Breeders’ Cup winner Wrote, set off in front with Kevin Manning sitting in second on the eventual winner.

Light Heavy joined issue at the two-furlong pole with the Ryan Moore-ridden Wrote, the 8-13 favourite, struggling, and settled down for a titanic tussle as Tower Rock refused to give in.

Although not the biggest in comparison to Tower Rock, Light Heavy (15-8) certainly has the right attitude and the son of Teofilo answered every call before prevailing by a neck.

Bolger said: “He managed to get there despite not liking the ground. He’s not the same horse on that ground.

“He’s a top horse with a will to win and lots of ability. He’s not going to Epsom. I’m hoping for decent ground at the Curragh for the Irish Derby (June 30).”

Bolger confirmed that Dewhurst winner Parish Hall will go for the Irish 2,000 Guineas, and could be in contention for the Investec Derby after that.

He said: “He definitely does not handle soft ground but he could go to Epsom after the Irish Guineas.”

It was back to business as usual for Famous Name as he recorded a straightforward success in the Amethyst Stakes.

Dermot Weld’s prolific seven-year-old has a tremendous record at the Foxrock track, with 11 wins there now, but was last seen stuck in the mud in the Bet365 Mile at Sandown.

Sent off the 1-5 favourite, the Khalid Abdullah-owned entire was bagging his ninth Group Three victory and a hat-trick of Amethyst triumphs.

Pat Smullen sat in third before easing to the front a quarter of a mile out and Famous Name stretched well clear to win by four and a half lengths from former Lincoln winner Sweet Lightning, who put in an encouraging effort on his return from over a year off.

Weld said: “He’s an amazing horse. I would believe that’s a record for wins here, certainly most stakes race wins.

“He’s a wonderful horse to train and loves being a racecourse. He’ll go for the Tattersalls Gold Cup. He has been second in it before.”

The five-year-old has won five Group One contests in four different countries and was last seen landing Japan’s Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup for the second time in November.

She was injured in the build up to the Hong Kong International meeting the following month and while she has yet to return to Dunlop’s yard, he has issued an upbeat bulletin.

“She hasn’t returned to me yet, but she’s ticking along and is back in ridden exercise,” said Dunlop.

“She isn’t due to return to me for a few weeks yet and she’ll be very much geared towards the second half of the season if all goes well.

“Last year she came back in the Eclipse but she wouldn’t be ready for that this year.

“We might be looking at something like the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.”

Although Burwaaz has registered only one victory from nine career starts, he has been placed on a further six occasions.

He did well to finish third at Kempton on his return to action at the start of this month after things conspired against him and Dunlop hopes his day will come soon.

“He’s in the Duke of York Stakes on Wednesday and he’s going to be entered in the Carnarvon Stakes at Newbury on Friday. The ground is quite important,” said Dunlop.

“On his last run at Kempton, the bit went through his mouth and he did fantastically well to finish third.

“We’ll wait and see what the ground does, but it would nice to see him win as he deserves it.

“He was the bridesmaid sprinter last year but we’re pretty adamant he’s improved.”

Stablemate Red Cadeaux is on target for Friday’s Yorkshire Cup after finishing second in the rearranged Sagaro Stakes at Kempton last time.

Having been beaten a nose in the Melbourne Cup before finishing third in the Hong Kong Vase last year, he is another horse who deserves success.

“All being well he’ll run in the Yorkshire Cup,” said Dunlop.

“He won’t run on firm ground, but I don’t think we’re going to get that.”

What made it even sweeter for Ahmed Mouknass and Anthony Forde was that the breeder of Lucayan, Jean-Pierre Colombo, was the steward responsible for disqualifying their filly in 2010.

Despite their delight and that of trainer Francois Rohaut, the race was overshadowed by Aidan O’Brien’s runner Furners Green collapsing after the winning post and having to be put down after finishing a valiant third.

The surprise runner-up was Veneto who had been the pacemaker for Dabirsim whose chances disappeared when he got blocked coming up the rail under Christophe Soumillon in the straight.

“This is amazing for me as I studied at Royal Holloway in London and I used to see all these elegantly made up women going past on their way to Ascot and I said I would like to have horses one day worthy of running there,” the Mauritania-born Mouknass told AFP.

“I used to ride for miles in the desert in Mauritania so I always had an affinity with horses.

“This is my third year of being an owner and it is a dream after the emotional disappointment to have been disqualified two years ago.”

Soumillon, who was criticised for being too confident on his first ride on Dabirsim, said his horse had done well to get back into contention.

“He raced far better today than the first time this season, but he got totally blocked when we made our run and then having got back upsides the leaders 250 metres from the line he simply ran out of gas,” he said.

Earlier Soumillon had given Beauty Parlour a superb ride in a rough French 1000 Guineas to come through and win on the favourite.

Behind her there was mayhem as horses fought to pass those tiring with O’Brien’s favoured runner Up making ground on Beauty Parlour once she broke free.

However, O’Brien’s 18-year-old son Joseph was not able to conjure up enough of a finishing burst to catch Beauty Parlour who ran out the winner by a length while Topeka, trained by Robert Collet, finished third.

“She’s unbeaten so you can’t really say more about her,” trainer Elie Lellouche said.

“It was a far from ideal race in the way it was run and Christophe did well to send her to the front when he did.

“She is in both the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) and the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot but I would like to send her to the Diane as its home for me”

Cecil resisted the temptation to work Khalid Abdullah’s colt round the bend where he sustained the minor leg injury that put his training schedule back a week and caused connections several anxious days waiting for the result of a scan which revealed no damage to Frankel’s tendon.

Instead, he telephoned Newmarket’s clerk of the course Michael Prosser and arranged for Frankel to work on a different piece of ground ahead of next Saturday’s date at Newbury.

“Michael kindly let me work on a very nice piece of ground and I’m very happy with him,” Cecil said.

“It’s important for racing that he continues from where he left off. Every sport needs a champion.

“At the moment he is on course for next week.

“Although he missed ten days, I’m not saying he’s not going to improve for the race but I hope I have got him well enough.

“For any sport to have a champion, they (the public) follow them, so let’s hope he continues to give them enjoyment and pleasure.”

Cecil added that he is yet to decide whether to run Frankel’s brother Noble Mission in the Dante Stakes at York next week.

“He needs another race to sort him out,” he said.

“He’s improving but it’s important not to over-race a horse like him.”