Some of the weekend headline makers

Weekend racing review: David Ord's takeaways

Horse Racing

Sun September 13, 2026 · 1h ago

It was quite a weekend all in all.

Saffie Osborne and Highwayman made history at Doncaster, put a smile on everyone’s face and provided the Betfred St Leger with a timely and much-needed shot in the arm on its 250th birthday.

Her celebrations were on the front page of the Sunday Telegraph, high on the BBC Sport app. Fleetingly, horse racing was back on the big stage for the right reasons.

Charlie Appleby has the Betfred 2000 Guineas favourite in impressive Champagne Stakes winner Desert Castle and saw his 2024 Newmarket Classic hero Notable Speech snare another top-flight prize in the Woodbine Mile. He also had the 1000 Guineas market leader in May Hill heroine Musical Times as he finished his Corn Flakes on Sunday morning – although by the time he was tucking into his roast beef that was no longer the case.

Mind you Al Hudaiba provided him with his 100th top-flight winner in Canada as well. I missed that. Hope he didn't.

Hotazhell (noseband) wins the Irish Champion

Jessica Harrington and her team were the only people not left scratching their heads after Hotazhell won the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes while Shane Foley's winning ride was described as "brutal" by Donnacha O'Brien 24 hours later. The rider received an 11-day ban - but is that enough of a deterrent to prevent a win-at-all costs mentality in the big races moving forward?

Aidan O’Brien walked through the gates at the Curragh on Sunday having seen his Classic hopes blowout at Doncaster and Constitution River again fail to live up to the hype in the Irish Champion. One winner for the Ballydoyle armada on Saturday felt light – even it if was a colt who is the new Betfred Derby favourite in the shape of Darkness Falls.

The trainer speaks to Kevin O’Ryan on Racing TV ahead of his first runners of the afternoon and reveals that a low-grade infection has been affecting the yard for the last two months.

Christmas Day coughed on the way to the start for the Leger, and suddenly the fact the flood of Group One winners of the spring and early summer turned into a trickle through August and September makes a little more sense.

The red warning light is flashing but then Sun Goddess roars to six-and-a-half lengths win in the Moyglare Stud Stakes and 1000 Guineas favouritism herself. The market told you she would. But stablemate Alpha runs a tame race too. The yard in a nutshell right now.

Sun Goddess is out on her own in the Moyglare Stud Stakes

We thought we’d found our champion sprinter in Almeraq at Haydock last week but Commanche Brave drops down in trip and rattles home to win the Flying Five in the manner of a top-class sprinter going places fast. ‘It’s up for grabs now’ as Brian Moore once said. Not that they’re likely to meet any time soon. This winner looks bound for America and Hong Kong. Now there’s a gloriously ambitious programme. Three words. Ka. Ying. Rising.

Aidan, Joseph and Donnacha O’Brien have all had Group One winners this weekend.

Joseph has a second – and a one-two too – as Folsom Blues proves a cut-above his rivals in the National Stakes, much-vaunted stablemate Monogram six lengths adrift at the line but leading the chasing pack. Giant Sequoia and Haffner are notable disappointments for his Dad.

But Aidan signs off for the weekend with a one-two-three in the Comer International Irish St Leger although Scandinavia has to dig far deeper than the market suggested he would to get past and then fend off a rallying Queenstown in a gruelling final two furlongs.

At least his champion stayer crown is secure – it’s about the only thing that is right now.

Plenty to digest – and I look forward to the Timeform handicapper’s full reaction on site on Monday and Graeme North’s timefigure analysis in Tuesday’s Watch And Learn.

My own takeaways from the weekend include the dazzling Sun Goddess, the rich potential of Darkness Falls and Desert Castle and that final furlong from Folsom Blues in the National Stakes.

There’s the rise and rise of Joseph O’Brien, Aidan’s ongoing battle with a bug that’s now out in the open but above all it's Saffie Osborne, Highwayman and a joyous day of celebration at Doncaster.

The Betfred St Leger was a big price to produce the story of the weekend on Friday evening but in front of over 30,000 racegoers in South Yorkshire it did just that. A race that faces a constant battle to remain relevant in the modern-racing world, suddenly found itself centre-stage again. It was a genuine joy to be there.

Saffie Osborne makes history on Highwayman

Weekend racing review: David Ord's takeaways

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