Irish Champions Festival

Few trainers emerged from the Irish Champions Festival happier than trainer John O'Donoghue who, despite drawing a blank with his only runner across the two-day meeting, walked out of the Curragh racecourse on Sunday in little doubt over the talent his stable star It's A Heartbeat is blessed with.  The lightly-raced Too Darn Hot filly could not have been more impressive in swatting away the Johnny Murtagh-trained Shaool by almost four lengths when last seen in a handicap at that track last month.  Shaool paid a handsome compliment to It's...

The Irish Champions Festival kicks off at Leopardstown on Saturday and, ahead of what promises to be an absorbing weekend of action at the Foxrock track and the Curragh, TDN Europe caught up with some of the leading protagonists to get the lowdown on their runners.   Shadwell Team Relishing Irish Champions Stakes Challenge With Anmaat Shadwell racing manager Angus Gold says soft ground will not inconvenience the Owen Burrows-trained Anmaat (Awtaad) in the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Sunday and is predicting a big effort from the...

Ryusei Sakai is savouring a second tilt at the G1 Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday, with last year's third Shin Emperor (Siyouni) featuring among 12 horses standing their ground after Tuesday's confirmation stage. Japanese raider Shin Emperor, trained by Yoshito Yahagi, delighted connections in an early workout on Tuesday, with Sakai saying afterwards, "He worked this morning on the Curragh Racecourse with his partner horse and he felt very well, very comfortable. I was very happy with the gallop. He is a more mature and stronger horse...

Wayne Lordan, who was facing a 10-day suspension for using his whip in the incorrect place aboard Precise (Starspangledbanner) at Goodwood last month, has lost his appeal. His ban will begin on September 9 and last through September 18. In addition, he was fined £1,250 after being found in breach of the rules by the whip review committee following his winning effort on the Aidan O'Brien-trained filly in the G3 Prestige Stakes. Lordan admitted he had used his whip in the wrong place once aboard Precise, he contested the committee's...

Following the exploits of Jan Brueghel (Ire) and Illinois (Ire) on Saturday, it is the turn of Kyprios (Ire) to write one of the final stories of the grand epoch of Galileo (Ire) in his St Leger on Sunday. Heading back to The Curragh for the Irish equivalent he mastered in 2022, Moyglare's elite homebred seems to know no limitations to his supremacy in the staying division and it is highly likely he will augment Ballydoyle's group 1 haul during Irish Champions Weekend. Nothing can diminish him. Not the best...

At once revered and maligned, Ballydoyle's Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) bids to put the critics in their place once again on Saturday as he heads back to Leopardstown for back-to-back renewals of the G1 Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes, a "Win And You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. Not even favourite this time, with all the expectation centred around the British raider Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), he nevertheless has everything in his favour once more and could be set for another tour de force....

Sunday's field have now been set, with the group 1 races at The Curragh and ParisLongchamp hosting some major names including Ballydoyle's elite-level winners Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Opera Singer (Justify). The former bids for a second G1 Irish St Leger during the second day of the Irish Champions Festival in Kildare, while the latter is one of a dozen fillies set to contest the G1 Qatar Prix Vermeille which is the feature of the French Arc Trials card. Kyprios will face seven in the 14-furlong contest, including Scuderia...

Set to go as the opening event of the Irish Champions Festival at Leopardstown on Saturday, Sept. 14, nominations for the Goffs Champions Sale are now open, the auction house announced via presser on Monday. Offering a boutique selection of high-class Flat and NH prospects, the sale will take place in the winners' enclosure before racing is conducted. The Irish Champions Festival features prize money of €4.5-million with a programme headed by six Group 1 races, including the G1 Royal Bahrain Irish Champions Stakes on the Saturday card at Leopardstown,...

Owner-breeder Arturo Cousino has promised to cheer on Jancis (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) when she lines out in the G1 Matron Stakes at the Irish Champions Festival after admitting to have been completely lost for words when his star filly landed a Group 3 at Leopardstown last week. What that victory meant to the 63-year-old, whose family is steeped in racing and breeding history in his native Chile, can scarcely be put into words. Literally. "Honestly, I couldn't believe it," Cousino recalled of that Brownstown Stakes success. "When I saw her...

The Devil's Dyke stretches in pretty much a straight line for more than seven miles through parts of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. The best part, according to this scribbler anyway, is the section roughly a mile and half long which cleaves Newmarket's July Course from the Rowley Mile, with a break in the dyke allowing the two courses to join briefly just beyond the ten-furlong mark on the latter. A Dutch author, Iman Jacob Wilkens, once claimed that Cambridge's Gog Magog Hills was the true location of the City of Troy,...

Amo Racing's Kia Joorabchian has sacked Kevin Stott as the retained rider for the operation. Stott is understood to have been informed of the decision by text on Monday morning and it comes after the 29-year-old suffered defeat on Bucanero Fuerte and King Of Steel in Group 1 contests at the Irish Champions Festival.  Stott replaced Rossa Ryan in the role as Amo Racing's number one jockey earlier this year and partnered the breakthrough Group 1 winner for the team when landing the Phoenix S. at the Curragh last month. ...

It was always going to take something special to luminate the Curragh against the backdrop of that dark grey sky, but the Joseph O'Brien-trained Lumiere Rock (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) had just the answer in the G2 Moyglare-sponsored Blandford S. under a razor-sharp Dylan Browne McMonagle.  Lumiere Rock has danced every dance this season. Her big moment at the Irish Champions Festival was richly deserved but it was achieved in far more tenacious fashion than the three-length winning margin would suggest.  Having gone out on her sword behind the fantastically-talented...