Major targets in store for trio following Keeneland efforts

First Mission, With The Moonlight and Modern Games look set for significant G1 assignments following their runs at Keeneland’s Spring Meet over the weekend.

Street Sense colt First Mission (pictured) is being considered for the middle leg of the US Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, following a determined victory in Saturday’s G3 Lexington Stakes.

With The Moonlight ran an excellent race on the same card as she filled the runner-up spot in the G1 Jenny Wiley Stakes. She is due to head back to Belmont Park for the New York Stakes in June, having finished second at the course in last’s season’s G1 Belmont Oaks.

Dual Breeders’ Cup hero Modern Games met with a first defeat on North American soil as he chased home Chez Pierre in the G1 Maker’s Mark Mile on Friday. A return to the Breeders’ Cup remains the end of season target for the Eclipse Award winner, who will return to Europe in the interim for the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Vilana also has G1 targets on his agenda following an impressive return to action in the G3 Hall Mark Stakes at Randwick on Saturday. The four-year-old is due to contest the Queensland Winter Carnival’s top sprints, starting with next month’s Doomben 10,000.

The Craven meeting at Newmarket this week kicks off the major Classic Trials in the UK, with Naval Power and Mysterious Night hoping to secure their 2,000 Guineas places in Thursday’s G3 Craven Stakes.

Unbeaten colt Noble Style is on course to make his first start since last season’s G2 Gimcrack Stakes in the G3 Greenham Stakes at Newbury on Saturday. Established older stars Yibir and Hurricane Lane also hold entries on the same card.