Beach Ride Goes To Buick

With the re-jigging of the G1 QIPCO Irish Champion S. so that it is staged earlier on the Leopardstown card, Saturday’s G1 Ladbrokes St Leger has suffered from a knock-on effect with regards to jockey bookings, and the likely favorite, Bondi Beach (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), will now be partnered by William Buick. Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier and Michael Tabor’s G2 Great Voltigeur S. runner-up was originally set to be ridden by Frankie Dettori, but with just two hours between the Doncaster Classic and the planned run of Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) in Ireland, Ballydoyle were forced to look elsewhere. “There’s not sufficient time to ride in both races,” Dettori’s agent Ray Cochrane explained. “Frankie had rides in the first four races at Doncaster, the last one being in the Leger and then we were going to shoot over to Ireland and be there in good time. Now they’ve changed it by bringing it forward, there’s no point thinking of trying to do both. Frankie’s had a good run with John Gosden and Golden Horn is the best ride he’s got all year.”

With no Godolphin runner in the small line-up, Buick is free to ride for Aidan O’Brien, with Rosegreen stalwart Colm O’Donoghue on the impressive G3 Irish St Leger Trial S. winner Order of St George (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Silvestre de Sousa set to partner the Aug. 6 G3 Ballyroan S. scorer Fields of Athenry (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Rain is forecast on Town Moor, which would benefit Order of St George after he was so impressive when beating the former high-class performer Sea Moon (GB) (Beat Hollow {GB}) by 7 1/2 lengths on soft ground in the Leger Trial at The Curragh Aug. 23. He was a short-head second to Bondi Beach on a livelier surface in the June 28 G3 Curragh Cup, and his stable companion needs the ground to stay on the faster side of good.

Aidan O’Brien, who is focused on the clouds above Leopardstown, is also wary of the weather in the North of England. “There’s also lots of rain forecast for Doncaster, so we’ll have to wait and see which horse goes where, but the one that won in the Curragh [Order of St George] won on soft so will run in Doncaster,” he said.