Donn McClean's preview and tips ahead of the Irish St Leger
Ask trainer Patrick Prendergast what it is that sets Skitter Scatter apart, and he will tell you: her attitude. She may be pint-size, but she has a monstrous attitude, and she continues to surprise.
The Scat Daddy filly surprised many when she beat Sergei Prokofiev in a maiden at Dundalk in April. The form stood up too, because The Irish Rover was back in third, and Sergei Prokofiev won his next two and then finished third behind Calyx and Advertise in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Skitter Scatter surprised a few more when she got as close as she did to So Perfect in a Group 3 contest at The Curragh on Irish Derby weekend, and she surprised even more when she won the Group 3 Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown at the end of July. Again, the form has been strengthened since, with fourth-placed Sparkle’n’joy coming out and winning the listed fillies’ race at Leopardstown yesterday.
But she sprang the biggest surprise of all when she landed the Group 2 Debutante Stakes back at The Curragh last time. Not only by winning the race, but also by the manner in which she did it.
Prendergast was a little concerned that the ground might be softer than ideal for his filly that day. It was a legitimate concern too. She is by Scat Daddy out of a Street Cry mare, and all her running up to that point had been done on fast turf or Polytrack.
But she coped with the yielding ground at The Curragh that day admirably. Not only did she cope with it, she excelled on it. She put up the best performance of her life. She travelled like the most likely winner from a long way out, she picked up impressively when Ronan Whelan asked her to, she put two lengths between herself and her rivals, and she just maintained that advantage all the way to the line. She probably had more in hand than the mere winning margin.
It appears that Anthony and Sonia Rogers’ filly has been under-rated all her life. She has never finished outside the first three, she has won three of her six races, a maiden, a Group 3 and a Group 2, and she has never been sent off at shorter than 5/1 in her life.
And it may be that she has been under-rated again going into this afternoon’s Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh. True, this is another step up in class, into a Group 1 contest. And she faces several potential Group 1 fillies.
Just Wonderful, who was sent off as favourite for the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, was impressive in winning the Group 3 Flame Of Tara Stakes at The Curragh last time, when she had Thursday’s May Hill Stakes winner Fleeting back in third. Main Edition has won four of her five races, and she bounced back from an abject performance in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes to win the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes at Newmarket last time. Beyond Reason was impressive in making all to win a Group 2 race at Deauville last time on easy ground.
The Debutante Stakes is a really good pointer to today’s contest, which is not surprising, given that they are both run over the same course and distance, three weeks apart. History tells us that it is not only the Debutante winners who go on to land the Moyglare. The last three winners of the Moyglare – Minding, Intricately and Happily – all finished placed in the Debutante before going on to win the Moyglare. So that brings Bandiuc Eile and Zagitova and, to a lesser extent, Lady Kaya and Hermosa into it.
That said, Patrick Prendergast’s filly appeared to win the Debutante Stakes with plenty in hand. We know that she goes well at the track, seven furlongs is a good trip for her, and the ground should be at least a little better today than it was three weeks ago, which should help her further. She could spring another mild surprise today.
The preamble to the Comer Group International Irish St Leger has been dominated by the three-year-olds. Flag Of Honour has progressed since he has stepped up to today’s trip of a mile and six furlongs, winning the Group 2 Curragh Cup and the Group 3 Irish St Leger Trial, both over today’s course and distance. Latrobe is the Irish Derby winner who could be even better over a mile and six furlongs than over a mile and a half.
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Relatively few three-year-olds have taken their chance in the Irish Leger in recent years. Only one three-year-old ran in the race last year, and there were no representatives from the Classic generation in 2011, 2013, 2014 or 2016. But Massiyn and Hartani were both beaten in the race in 2012, and Flying Cross was beaten in 2010, and all three were at least reasonably well fancied. Order Of St George and Vinnie Roe are the only three-year-olds to win the race since Petite Ile won it in 1989.
Weekender could maintain the older horses’ dominance this afternoon. John Gosden’s horse put up a big performance last time under a big weight to finish second in the Ebor. He was fairly comprehensively beaten in the end by his stable companion Muntahaa, but Muntahaa is hugely talented on his day, and Weekender finished nicely ahead of the rest of the field.
This is obviously a step up in class, into a Group 1 race. But the Frankel colt was only beaten a neck by multiple Group 2 winner Marmelo in a listed race at York in June in a race that was run in a course record time, and his Ebor run under 9st 12lb was probably a step up on that. It may not be that big a jump from top weight in the Ebor to the Irish St Leger. Royal Diamond also finished second in the Ebor in 2012, carrying just 9st, before coming back to The Curragh and winning the Irish St Leger.
Weekender has nothing to find with the three-year-olds on official ratings, and he could run a big race.
For more from Donn head to www.donnmcclean.com.
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