Irish Champions Festival preview: Graham Cunningham view on the big talking points

Funding no problem as ICF takes centre stage

Strike day is here and with it come mental images of British racing’s great and good warming their hands around Westminster braziers and chanting ‘Axe The Racing Tax’ at bemused MPs on their way to work.

It's a far cry from our racing pals across the water – who will trouser almost €80m in direct government funding this year alone – and over €5m is up for grabs this weekend during an Irish Champions Festival featuring six G1s and a host of stars.

Sadly, the highlight of the two-day extravaganza has taken a big hit after a build-up to the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes that has been comical and frustrating in equal measure.

In short, Aidan said something akin to ‘come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough’ and Big John replied with ‘no thanks - and you’ll only set your gang on us if we do.’

The absence of runaway Juddmonte International winner Ombudsman leaves the only horse to beat him at G1 level as a shade of odds on for Saturday’s Leopardstown showpiece, but one nagging question remains…

Is Delacroix the real daddy?

You can rest assured that the historic stewards’ inquiry conducted over the paternity of the brilliant French artist this year’s Coral-Eclipse winner is named after will never be part of the equine Delacroix’s legend.

“We’ve been waiting on a Dubawi to come along all this time and here he is,” coos Aidan, before adding that Delacroix “has everything and we can’t wait to get him off to stud.”

But the word ‘everything’ seems to be doing some heavy lifting in that rose-tinted summary.

True, Delacroix banished memories of his troubled Derby trip by producing a striking burst to nail a wandering Ombudsman in the Eclipse, but I still harbour doubts as to the value of that stop-start Sandown contest and the Gosden colt ran clean away from him in round two on the Knavesmire.

It's a real shame that we won’t see an explosive round three to settle the debate and Delacroix is odds on to take care of Zahrann, Shin Emperor and Anmaat now that Big John and Slim Thady are staying away.

Evergreen Anmaat one for the old brigade

I don’t fancy Zahrann to show the double-digit improvement that will be essential to win on his G1 debut, while Japanese raider Shin Emperor hasn’t been seen for over five months since flopping in the Sheema Classic.

But the evergreen Anmaat – now the mount of Chris Hayes after Jim Crowley broke a leg at York on Sunday – still looks fair value at 11-2 in various spots.

True, no seven-year-old has won Ireland’s biggest 2000m race, but Owen Burrows’s gelding recorded the highest Timeform rating of his colourful career (125) when clear of the rest behind Ombudsman in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and has been kept fresh since in the hope of easy ground.

A notably strong traveller, Anmaat will be well suited by the demands of Leopardstown, especially if the Lads set up the hard gallop they had in mind before Ombudsman’s defection, and his sire Anmaat gave Hayes his breakthrough when winning the Irish Guineas in 2016.

Maybe Delacroix is all Aidan says he is and Coolmore will snag the world-class Dubawi stallion they have been seeking for so long.

But I haven’t seen enough to rate his complete body of work that highly - and there’s an Old Master from the Lambourn school who can make them all go here.

Ooh, Matron

The 2024 winner Porta Fortuna left the stage for this year’s Coolmore America “Justify” Matron Stakes last weekend and Fallen Angel – an honest second twelve months ago – is a leading player after bouncing back to peak form last month.

But every time I watch the replay of last month’s Prix Rothschild I wonder whether the best filly won.

It wasn’t that JANUARY was desperately unlucky in running at Deauville. Indeed, she travelled like the best horse in the race for a long way, but Christophe Soumillon seemed to think he could get her home with firm hands and heels and Fallen Angel was rallying strongly with the line looming by the time he went for the convincer.

Soumy will presumably get the call again with Ryan Moore sidelined and January has clearly progressed again since finishing a good third, given plenty to do from a wide gate, in Cercene’s Coronation Stakes in June.

This will be a strong test over the round mile if hulking front runner Vera’s Secret does her usual thing and that will suit January ideally.

Her chances of reversing the Royal Ascot form with Cercene – and the Deauville form with Fallen Angel – look bright. And if she takes her revenge on that pair, then she’s going to be hard to beat full stop.

Riff in the Irish Leger groove

Is it time to let geldings take their chance in the Betfred St Leger?

I don’t know whether Ralph Beckett would have run Amiloc (or even his Voltigeur winner Pride Of Arras) at Donny if that were the case.

But I do know Britain’s oldest Classic doesn’t resonate like it used to since the Irish Champions Festival parked its tanks on the Town Moor lawn and barring geldings from a race that has limited stallion making value nowadays seems self-defeating.

Either way, Amiloc looks set to take his unbeaten record to the Curragh on Sunday for a clash with ILLINOIS and AL RIFFA in the Comer Group International Irish St Leger.

A win for the gonad-free Beckett runner might help nudge Donny to rekindle an interesting conversation, while Illinois has been a model of consistency in racking up G1 form figures of 32222 including fine efforts in defeat behind Trawlerman and Scandinavia at Royal Ascot and Goodwood.

But Al Riffa has two G1 wins on his dance card and the way he powered clear in the G2 Curragh Cup suggests that a mile and six suits him very well indeed.

True, Illinois and Amiloc present a far sterner Sunday test than the limited Shackleton and Drawn To Dream did back in July. But Al Riffa looks like he’s found a lucrative niche as a stayer and the Melbourne Cup dream will loom large if he takes care of this good-class field.

Aussie, Aussie Aussie

Who’s going to be Europe’s champion sprinter this year?

Lazzat looked the clubhouse leader until he was done in by the Haydock draw last week, while fellow Royal Ascot winner American Affair is on the injured list and the rest of the crop just beat each other depending on circumstance.

But Bradsell claimed the champion sprinter crown by following his Nunthorpe with success in the Flying Five last year and ASFOORA is hard to knock as she tries to repeat the feat at the Curragh on Sunday.

The Aussie mare was neglected in the market at York after failing to produce her best at Ascot and Goodwood, but it was clear soon after halfway that she was travelling in a higher gear than her limited British and Irish rivals and she settled things decisively close home.

Bucanero Fuerte has looked sharp in two wins since coming back from a frustrating spell at stud and his stablemate Arizona Blaze is surely much better than his tame York run suggests.

But the weather could be just as big a factor for Asfoora. A low draw after a deluge could be problematic. But a good draw on decent ground and Asfoora – reportedly the first ever Aussie runner on Irish soil – could stake a strong claim to Bradsell’s vacant crown.

Troll on a roll with another G1 record brewing

Aidan’s mischievous trolling of the Goz has been one of the undoubted highlights of the last week, but it’s back to business now for an autumn campaign that could produce a tilt at one of his most significant achievements.

The master of Ballydoyle eclipsed Bobby Frankel’s world record of 25 G1 winners in a calendar year when Saxon Warrior won the Racing Post Trophy in 2017 and he ended that year with a new high of 28 thanks to a BC win from Mendelsssohn and a HK Vase success for Highland Reel.

It's strange to note that Royal Ascot came and went without an O’Brien G1 winner for the first time in over two decades this summer but, Delacroix and January aside, just look at what this weekend alone could bring.

Scandinavia and Lambourn top the market for Saturday’s St Leger at Donny; Composing is favourite to end Venetian Sun’s winning streak in Sunday’s Moyglare, Gstaad is similarly short to win the National Stakes and Illinois is aiming for an overdue first G1 success in the Irish Leger.

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