Golden Horn heads high-class Irish Champion Stakes

On Saturday, Leopardstown Racecourse will host possibly the deepest race of the European flat season – the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes – provided the race stays together.

English Derby winner Golden Horn is set to face Europe’s best miler, Gleneagles, in a mouth-watering matchup of 3-year-olds. But the Irish Champion, worth about $720,000 to the winner and a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In race for the 1 1/4-mile BC Turf, also drew the excellent older horses Free Eagle, The Grey Gatsby, and Cirrus des Aigles. High-level 3-year-old fillies Pleascach and Found also are entered, as is Highland Reel, who dominated the Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington. That’s the eight-horse field, and there’s not a hint of filler in it.

But rain threatens to spoil the party. Leopardstown was good to firm Thursday afternoon, but heavy rain was forecast Thursday night. The connections of Golden Horn and Gleneagles don’t want to run over soft going, and if the course gets too wet, either or both could be scratched. To avoid that, Irish racing authorities have taken the unusual step of moving the Irish Champion up an hour on the card – post time now is set for 12:45 p.m. Eastern – hoping that turf less chewed up by races earlier on the card will prove more amenable to star participation.

Golden Horn won his first five races, including the English Derby and a victory over older foes in the Group 1 Eclipse, but suffered a shocking loss last out in the Juddmonte International to the unheralded Arabian Queen. That race came Aug. 19, and six weeks had passed since Golden Horn’s previous start since trainer John Gosden withdrew him from the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes because of wet going. Golden Horn seemed unsettled throughout and not quite himself, and a return to his top form feels entirely plausible Saturday provided the going is right.

While Golden Horn has been favored in antepost betting, Gleneagles has drifted near 5-1, in part because he might not start but also because there are questions about his ability to carry his one-mile form another two furlongs. Gleneagles, trained by Aidan O’Brien, lost his debut but since has finished first in all eight of his races, looking far superior to fellow 3-year-olds in his three 2015 starts. But unlike Golden Horn, he has yet to face older foes, and given the competition, distance, and going concerns, one can see why Gleneagles has been cool in the betting.

Lightly raced 4-year-old Free Eagle, a course and distance winner, has made only one start this year, but that was a victory in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes over The Grey Gatsby, and the Dermot Weld trainee has been well backed for Saturday’s race.

The Grey Gatsby has yet to win in five starts this year, but he has run to form in four of them, losing only to top-class rivals, and won the Irish Champion last summer, albeit over a lesser group and on good-to-firm going.

The 9-year-old warrior Cirrus des Aigles would like nothing more than a slog over soft going, and despite a light campaign this year owing to leg issues, he would merit a long look under the right conditions. The 3-year-old Ireland-based fillies Found and Pleascach have traded decisions this year, and both can handle the distance and wet turf, making Highland Reel the outsider in the group.

The card’s second Group 1, the Matron Stakes, a Win and You’re In race for the BC Filly and Mare Turf, also drew an excellent field headed by the 3-year-old Legatissimo, who also had been considered for the Irish Champion. Legatissimo, a multiple Group 1 winner, won the English 1000 Guineas over the Matron’s one-mile trip but is not certain to show her best if the course winds up soft.

Also in the Matron is the streaking Amazing Maria, who has emerged from relative obscurity to win the Group 1 Falmouth and the Group 1 Prix Rothschild in her two most recent starts. The connections of 2014 Beverly D. Stakes winner Euro Charline were hoping for good ground, but they’re unlikely to get it.

Eight set to go in St. Leger

Eight 3-year-olds are entered in the final leg of the barely relevant English Triple Crown, the Group 1 St. Leger Stakes over a little more than 1 3/4 miles at Doncaster, where the going also could turn soft by race time.

The three clear favorites are Storm the Stars, Bondi Beach, and Order of St. George. Until Golden Horn was upset in the International Stakes, Storm the Stars had been the only horse to defeat the English Derby winner, having bested him in a maiden race at 2. Storm the Stars isn’t in the same class as Golden Horn, but he was second in the Irish Derby to Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hope Jack Hobbs and won the Great Voltigeur Stakes last out in his prep for the St. Leger.

Bondi Beach and Order of St. George, both trained by Aidan O’Brien, were separated by a head in a Group 3 over 1 3/4 miles at The Curragh earlier this year, with Bondi Beach coming out on top. Bondi Beach was second by a half-length to Storm the Stars in the Great Voltigeur, while Order of St. George has won two straight since being narrowly defeated by his stablemate.