Australia Set to Star On Irish Champions Weekend

THE MAIN PLAYER 
It may be Irish Champions weekend, but all the focus is on Australia (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), as the proclaimed best to have graced Ballydoyle's second empire takes center stage in today's G1 QIPCO Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown. Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Teo Ah Khing's chestnut was bred to be an elite performer and races like one, with one defeat this season coming when third racing on the wrong side in the G1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket May 3. Since that fully excusable eclipse, the son of Ouija Board (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire})–who was runner-up in this eight years ago–has not had to be fully extended to win both the G1 English and Irish Derbies and G1 Juddmonte International. In that extended 10-furlong York feature last time Aug. 20, he was reportedly short of peak fitness when comfortably accounting for the June 1 G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner The Grey Gatsby (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), and it is difficult to see how his rivals can upset him here. “We were delighted he ran in York and got through it and look forward to Leopardstown with him,” trainer Aidan O'Brien, who is seeking an eighth renewal since 2000, told PA Sport. “He'd had a good break and done very well. He was only ready for a good racecourse gallop. That was the state he was at and obviously we were a bit worried going into a big race like that, but he came out of it well and we were delighted with the performance on the day. We'll take one race at a time. That's what we've always done with every race so far.” 
While Australia's saunter around The Curragh was met with much publicity afterwards regarding the state of the opposition, there can be no such claims this time, with a clutch of top-level performers set to test him. One is Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Mukhadram (GB) (Shamardal), who captured the G1 Eclipse S. at Sandown July 5 before finishing third to Taghrooda (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. over 12 furlongs five weeks later. On that occasion, last year's G1 Irish Derby scorer Trading Leather (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) was 7 3/4 lengths behind Mukhadram in fifth prior to the Shadwell stalwart's fourth in the Juddmonte International. “He's had a long, relatively hard, season,” the owner-breeder's Racing Manager Angus Gold told PA Sport. “At the moment, he's not showing any sign of the effects. He's a big, tough horse. He's a horse that likes to get on with it and do his own thing. We probably disappointed him at York. Sheikh Hamdan told Paul [Hanagan] to make sure he got a lead. The horse fought him for two furlongs and that was it. The horse got fed up with it.” 
Second to The Fugue (GB) (Dansili {GB}) 12 months ago, John Deer's 2013 G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, G1 Prince of Wales's S. and G1 Eclipse S. hero Al Kazeem (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) has it to do to shake up Ballydoyle's supremo, but he showed when winning the G3 Winter Hill S. at Windsor last time Aug. 23 that he is on the way back. “It's going to be a tough one, and I don't really know where he is compared to where he was last year, but we'll find out on Saturday,” his owner-breeder told PA Sport. “He's been doing some nice work on the gallops, apparently, and I hope he might be back to somewhere near where he was this time last year. It looks like there should be plenty of pace in the race. It looks as though Mukhadram has a pacemaker in the race and Australia will have a pacemaker as well. The one small concern I have is that the ground might be a little bit on the fast side for him. He's an older horse now and pretty strong, so hopefully he'll do all right. At the end of the day, he doesn't owe us anything and I just hope he doesn't get thrashed.”