Irish Champions Festival preview: Leopardstown and the Curragh

By Donn McClean

Horse Racing

Sat September 13, 2025 · 3M ago

Donn McClean previews the 2025 Irish Champions Festival and is still expecting a thrilling spectacle in Saturday's Irish Champion Stakes.

Irish Champion Stakes could still be a thriller

Well, we know what the story would have been: Delacroix v Ombudsman, the return, the decider. Ballydoyle v Godolphin again in the Irish Champion Stakes, and resonances all over the place.

Galileo v Fantastic Light is the monster that towers over all, of course, for so many different reasons. Because of the preamble, because of how the race was run, because of what Galileo went on to become. But a year later, there was Grandera and Hawk Wing, Hawk Wing hitting the front inside the final furlong and Grandera getting up to beat him in a photo that went on for ages. And a year before the Galileo/Fantastic Light where-were-you-when epic, there was Giant's Causeway and Best Of The Bests, Aidan O’Brien's first, remarkable, the first of 12 to date, a quarter of a century ago, with Greek Dance getting up for second close home, splitting the pair of them and spoiling the symmetry.

Ombudsman's defection leaves the scores at one-all, Delacroix's Eclipse to Ombudsman’s Juddmonte International. No decider, no extra-time, no final contest to determine who lifts the title, and that is a pity. It would have been the hook on which the 2025 Irish Champions’ Festival could have hung and it would have been great for racing.

What if there never had been a Thrilla in Manilla?

It also smooths Delacroix’s path to Aidan O’Brien’s 13th Irish Champion Stakes.

Not that it’s going to be entirely smooth. The Dubawi colt is the correct favourite, he has all the attributes. He is two for two over the course and distance, he put up a remarkable display in winning the Eclipse, and there were excuses for his defeat in the Juddmonte International. He has the pedigree and he has the trainer, and you know that this race has been on his radar for a while, that it is not an afterthought.

But it’s still a hugely competitive race. Six contenders are rated 120 or higher. Anmaat is top class, winner of the 2024 Champion Stakes when he came from an improbable position. Shin Emperor is back again, a year older, a year stronger, the Japanese horse who didn’t have a whole lot of luck in-running when he finished third in last year’s renewal and who was only just beaten in last year’s Japan Cup. Zahrann is seriously progressive, and Royal Champion and Hotazhell are probably under-rated, and White Birch comes right into it if it rains again.

It could still be a thriller.

Cercene serene

There we go, under-rating Cercene again.

Joe Murphy's filly has raced five times this season so far, and only once has she been sent off at less than 11/1, and only twice has she been sent off at less than 20/1. This, despite the fact that she has finished first a Coronation Stakes and second in a Nassau Stakes and third in an Irish Guineas.

You could have marked her up for her run in the Irish Guineas too, when she was the only filly who could get close to Lake Victoria from off the pace in a race in which they went a moderate gallop and which was dominated by the prominent racers. And she did well in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood to finish second to the Pretty Polly Stakes winner Whirl, who led from flagfall, literally, over a trip that was probably a little further than ideal and on ground that was probably a little softer than ideal. And she was brilliant in the Coronation Stakes.

That was some day, some achievement by Joe Murphy and his team. A first Group 1 win for the Fethard-based trainer, top hats and tails and everything and presented with his trophy by The King.

Some story.

Cercene battles to victory over Zarigana

“You don’t by a yearling for €50,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale and expect to win the Coronation Stakes,” said Joe’s son and assistant trainer, Joseph, during the week. But they did and they did.

Being under-rated is nothing new for Joe Murphy’s horses, mind you, when they compete in Group races. When Euphrasia won the Blue Wind Stakes, she was a 33/1 shot. When Only Mine won the Lacken Stakes, she was a 16/1 shot, the same price as Gustavus Weston was when he won the Phoenix Sprint Stakes for the first time, and just two points bigger than he was when he won the Greenlands.

Cercene isn’t a 33/1 shot or a 16/1 shot or a 14/1 shot for the Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron Stakes on Saturday, but she is a 5/1 shot, and even that may be too big.

Class of 2025 taking shape

This weekend usually provides crucial evidence in the determination of the pecking order of the juvenile fillies’ class of the year.

Venetian Sun will be a formidable opponent, but you can see why Composing heads the market in Sunday’s Moyglare Stud Stakes. Aidan O’Brien’s filly looked good in winning the Group 3 Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown in July, and she looked even better in winning the Group 2 Debutante Stakes at The Curragh in August. They are the stepping stones for the top Irish juvenile fillies through the summer that take them onto the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes in September.

That said, while it’s a logical progression, it’s not easy to win all three races. Bedtime Story won the Silver Flash and the Debutante last year, but came up short behind her stable companion Lake Victoria in the Moyglare. Happily won the Silver Flash in 2017, but she was beaten by Magical in the Debutante, before bouncing back to win the Moyglare, just getting up close home to beat her old rival, the subsequent dual Irish Champion Stakes winner, by a short head.

Asfoora, Venetian Sun and Gstaad

Love won the Silver Flash and the Moyglare in 2019, but could only finish fifth in the Debutante in between. Shale won the Silver Flash and the Moyglare in 2020, beating Pretty Gorgeous into second place on both occasions, but had to give best to the same Pretty Gorgeous in the Debutante in between.

Edabiya won the Debutante and the Moyglare in 1998, Necklace won the Debutante and the Moyglare in 2003, Rumpelstiltskin won the Debutante and the Moyglare in 2005, but none of them won the Silver Flash. Maybe did, she won the Silver Flash and the Debutante and the Moyglare, Aidan O’Brien’s filly completed the treble in 2011. Skitter Scatter did too, the Rogers’ filly won all three races in 2018. Composing is a short price to emulate them.

Weekend on the raiders’ radar

It is 11 years now since the Irish racing calendar was re-shuffled and this weekend came into being. Named Irish Champions’ Weekend back then, which was a fine name and not obviously in need of change, there were 16 races at the inaugural staging of the weekend, and eight of them were won by British-based trainers.

That was a great result for the internationalisation of the weekend, it was no doubt helpful in placing the weekend on British trainers’ radar for the future. The eight races that went for export went to eight different British trainers too.

The raiders keep coming, which is important for the weekend. They are not quite as prolific in recent years as they were at the start, but they usually go home with a significant share of the total prize money available. There was that year, 2021, a remarkable year, when Ger Lyons had four winners on the first day at Leopardstown and Jessica Harrington had three and Aidan O’Brien had one, and the raiders were reduced to just one winner for the weekend, the Charlie Appleby-trained Native Trail in the National Stakes, but, that year aside, British trainers have collectively bagged three or four winners in each of the recent renewals.

This year, 26 different British trainers have entries at the five-day stage, and that is great for competition. Add Henry Dwyer from Australia and Yoshito Yahagi from Japan and Pavel Vovcenko from Germany, and it is shaping up to be a truly international weekend.

www.donnmcclean.com

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