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Order of St George (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is set to start the shortest-priced favourite of the Irish Champions weekend after scaring off the opposition in Sunday's G1 Palmerstown House Estate Irish St Leger at The Curragh. So impressive when scoring by 11 lengths here 12 months ago, the subsequent G1 Ascot Gold Cup hero demonstrated his current wellbeing by extending his sequence in the G3 Irish St Leger Trial over this course and distance three weeks ago. “He's matured great and we've been very happy with him this year,” Aidan...

Slowly away when runner-up on debut to the subsequent G3 Solario S. third Eqtiraan (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) over six furlongs at Ascot July 22, Rivet made the normal improvement of a colt of his calibre on his next outing when readily winning the valuable Convivial Maiden over this trip at York's Ebor meeting Aug. 19. Arriving here with a buzz surrounding him, he duly collected after a tussle with the solid yardstick Thunder Snow but the tinge of anti-climax in William Haggas's tone afterwards speaks volumes about the regard in...

Saturday's G1 QIPCO Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown has a scarcely-believable quality, with a dual Derby winner, a 1000 Guineas and Oaks heroine and three Prix du Jockey-Club winners not even half of the story. His Highness the Aga Khan's Harzand (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) is the focal point, as the Epsom Derby winner tends to be most years, but whether he is as effective at this shorter trip against a filly of the calibre of Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is the big question mark that hangs over him....

Won in emphatic style 12 months ago by the subsequent G1 Champion S. hero Fascinating Rock (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), Saturday's G3 KMPG Enterprise S. or Kilternan S. at Leopardstown has the potential to supply another of that ilk in the fellow Dermot Weld-trained Zhukova (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). Given the summer break that her handler promised after her latest impressive success in the G3 Blue Wind S. over 10 furlongs at Naas May 11, the imposing bay is ready to make the autumn her own. First she has to...

Shortly after its inauguration in 2007, Aidan O'Brien began to monopolise Leopardstown's G3 Willis Towers Watson Champions Juvenile S., or Golden Fleece S. as it is registered, supplying the last six winners. Saturday's renewal features the stable's TDN Rising Star Douglas Macarthur (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), the 1.25 million gns Markus Jooste colour-bearer who scored by five lengths over this course and distance last time July 21. He has to prove himself against another TDN Rising Star in Radio Silence (War Front), who was runner-up to Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in...

Aidan O'Brien has made a point of bringing a strong representation to Irish Champions weekend and Saturday's G2 Clipper Logistics Boomerang S. or Solonaway S. at Leopardstown is no exception with last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf hero Hit It A Bomb (War Front) aiming to build on a solid comeback effort. Third behind Godolphin's Tribal Beat (Ire) (Street Cry {Ire}) on his belated seasonal bow in the G3 Desmond S. over this course and distance Aug. 11, Evie Stockwell's homebred was meeting with defeat for the first time...

Turning the corner after a spell in the wilderness in Newbury's G2 Hungerford S., Godolphin's Richard Pankhurst (GB) (Raven's Pass) now has to back that up in Friday's G2 Saint Gobain Weber Park S. at Doncaster. Despite carrying a penalty for that impressive success over this trip Aug. 13, the John Gosden trainee is the race's least-exposed runner but his trainer is hoping the forecast rain is not as heavy as expected. "It's been a long road, but we have got to the other end," he said of the colt...

If reputation was all there was to it, Rivet (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) would only need to turn up for Saturday's G2 At The Races Champagne S. at Doncaster such is the regard in which he is held by trainer William Haggas. Normally reticent and not one to hype his charges, the Yorkshire-born handler is making big noises about the winner of the valuable Convivial Maiden over this trip at York Aug. 19. "I like him very much. I think he's got great potential," Haggas said. "His work has been...

French attendance on Irish Champions Day is a rarity, but Jean-Claude Rouget arrives at Leopardstown on Saturday with a formidable hand which is played first in the G1 Coolmore Fastnet Rock Matron S. with Qemah (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). Successful in the G1 Coronation S. at Royal Ascot June 17 and G1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville July 31, Al Shaqab Racing's flag-bearer holds several of her opponents on form and Harry Herbert is hoping she can extend her sequence. "Qemah comes into the race in terrific form. The Matron has...

Saturday's G1 Ladbrokes St Leger lacks its customary strength and with a seemingly rock-solid proposition in Idaho (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) there are few outcomes to consider other than a fifth renewal for Aidan O'Brien. Seamie Heffernan gets a rare chance of riding an odds-on favourite for a British Classic, but the longtime Ballydoyle soldier knows his mount well having partnered him on three of his last four starts. Steering the TDN Rising Star into third in Leopardstown's G3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial over 10 furlongs May 8 and also in...

Nine years after being retired from covering duties, Linamix (Fr) (Mendez {Fr}) has died at the Aga Khan Studs in Normandy at the age of 29. Winner of the 1990 G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains for Jean-Luc Lagardere and trainer Francois Boutin, Linamix began his stud career at his owner-breeder's Haras du Val Henry the following season and took little time in establishing himself at the forefront of the French stallion ranks. The eight black-type performers from his first crop included Lagardere's G1 Prix Jacques le Marois winner Miss Satamixa...

Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}), who is set to return to racing in next Saturday's G1 George Main S., took to the track at Warwick Farm on Wednesday, finishing third in a 1000-metre barrier trial under Hugh Bowman. Settled in mid-division of the nine runners, the six-time Group 1 winner wasn't set too stern a test by her regular partner, who let her move up easily at the 400-metre mark to close in on the leaders to the line. Winx's return to action was delayed when a heavy track at...