Juddmonte International top three could clash in Irish
Champion
Thirteen have been left in Saturday’s Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes, which is
shaping up to be one of the top races of the year. The Leopardstown contest is
now the seventh-highest-rated race in the world with a prize fund of €750,000
and the winner will receive an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Declaration of War, the recent conqueror of Al Kazeem in the Juddmonte
International; the 2012 and 2013 Derby winners Camelot and Ruler of the World;
Irish Two Thousand Guineas hero Magician; and last year’s exciting juvenile Kingsbarns spearhead
six entries for trainer Aidan O’Brien, who is bidding for his eighth success in
the race.
“It’s a very special race on usually lovely ground,” O’Brien said, “and the
horses are ready to start their autumn campaigns after midsummer breaks. They
are all being aimed at it at the moment and we’ll decide in the middle of the
week. We are very happy with them all and are ready to run.”
Roger Charlton’s Al Kazeem could bid for revenge on Declaration of War, with
owner John Deer keen to take his chances with his three-time Group 1 winner.
“Personally I would like to see him running in the Irish Champion if the
ground is right, but that’s just my opinion,” Deer said. “The trainer might
think differently.”
But the current firm ground conditions and little prospect of rain could lead
Al Kazeem to sidestep the 10-furlong feature in favor of the Group 2 Prix Foy at
Longchamp September 15.
“Al Kazeem worked well at the weekend,” Charlton said, “and he will be left
in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday. James Doyle walked the
course before his second Group 1 winner at the Curragh and described the ground
as being very quick.
“So unless there is a change in the weather forecast before the weekend, Al
Kazeem is looking a doubtful starter. A decision will be taken nearer the time.”
Al Kazeem had swept this season’s Gordon Richards, Tattersalls Gold Cup,
Prince of Wales’s and Eclipse prior to his third to Declaration of War and
Trading Leather at York.
Trading Leather also holds an Irish Champion entry, and trainer Jim Bolger
issued a positive bulletin on the Irish Derby winner.
“He arrived home from York in good shape and he has been fresh and well
since,” Bolger said.
Lord Lloyd-Webber’s The Fugue, heroine of the Yorkshire Oaks in her latest, is an intriguing
contender for John Gosden.
“John is not here at the moment, but we will talk about things in the next
couple of days,” the owner’s Racing and Bloodstock Manager Simon Marsh said.
“Looking at the weather forecast, there is not a lot of rain around at the
moment and she has got her preferred ground, so we might let her take her
chance. There has been no decision about Saturday, but she would be a definite
possible.”
Dermot Weld will delay a decision about the participation of the
filly Princess Highway until later this week.
“She is a very talented filly and I don’t think that we’ve seen the best of
her so far this season. She is a very possible runner,” Weld said.
Other notable entries for the race include the French-trained multiple Group
1 winner Cirrus Des Aigles, who will be bidding to bounce back to form after a
disappointing year so far. But like Al Kazeem, the veteran has his eye on the
weather.
“The owner wants to wait and see whether there is going to be any rain in
Ireland, so we have left him in the race once more,” trainer Corine
Barande-Barbe told PA Sport.
“If there is plenty of rain then he will run, but if there is no rain he will
not. If he does not run on Saturday, he will run in the Prix Dollar (Group 2 on
October 5) at Longchamp, and then the Champion Stakes (Group 1 on October 19) at
Ascot.”
The other Group 1 race on Saturday’s card is the Matron Stakes, which could see
four-time Group 1 winner Elusive Kate line up, alongside the only other
British-based filly and course and distance winner Chigun.
There is a French possible in Alex Pantall’s Kenhope, who was third behind
Elusive Kate in the Prix Rothschild.
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