Magical heads 1-2-3 sweep for O'Brien in Irish Champion

Had she come along at a different time, Magical might be hailed as a superstar, but Magical races in the shadow of the great Enable, although on Saturday at Leopardstown, Magical showed again she casts her own long shadow winning the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths.

Always traveling confidently as jockey Ryan Moore positioned her second behind her pacemaker, Hunting Horn, Magical took the lead a quarter-mile from the finish and never was threatened, leading a top-three sweep for trainer Aidan O’Brien as Magic Wand finished second by a head over Anthony Van Dyck. The Japanese mare Deirdre ran into traffic at a key moment and finished strongly for fourth.

The Irish Champion is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race offering an automatic fees-paid entry to the BC Turf and travel expenses to America. Magical finished second to Enable in the 2018 BC Turf and will tackle Enable again next month in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but while that race likely is Enable’s last, Magical could have another try at the BC Turf. So could Anthony Van Dyck, with O’Brien saying the English Derby winner, who got back toward his best form again Saturday, could be trained up to the Breeders’ Cup.

Magical, the odds-on favorite, has won five of her last nine starts and finished second in the four losses, once to the recently retired Crystal Ocean, who topped the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings much of the spring and summer, and three times to Enable. Magical was no match for Enable when they met last month in the Yorkshire Oaks, but O’Brien and Moore appear to believe Magical can narrow the gap.

“I think you’ll see a better filly in the autumn,” Moore said.

Magical is a 4-year-old by Galileo out of Halfway to Heaven, by Pivotal. She’s won 8 of her 19 starts, and it’s uncertain whether she stays in training next year.

Iridessa lands Matron; Mogul best in Champions Juvenile

Iridessa won the Group 1 Matron Stakes by three-quarters of a length as favored Laurens set the pace and faded to fourth.

Joseph O’Brien trains Iridessa, while his father, trainer Aidan O’Brien, sent out second- and third-place finishers Hermosa and Just Wonderful.

Three-year-old Iridessa had scored her major victory this year when she beat Magic Wand in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes on June 28 and on Saturday she bounced back after a subpar performance July 30 in the Irish Oaks. Under Wayne Lordan, she stalked the pace, sweeping wide for her run a quarter-mile out and going past the three fillies in front of her to win by three-quarters of a length.

Laurens, who won this race a year ago, led until the home straight but had no real resistance when Hermosa attacked her and went past. I Can Fly, the English filly who was well supported, never had any run and finished a well-beaten fifth.

Iridessa, who won for the fourth time in 10 races, is by Ruler of the World out of Senta’s Dream, by Danehill.

Earlier on the card, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Mogul proved comfortably best as the heavy favorite in the Group 2 KPMG Juvenile Champions Stakes. The Juvenile Champions is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race linked to the BC Juvenile Turf, but O’Brien made no mention of a trip to America for Mogul, saying instead that the colt wouldn’t be over-raced at 2 and was considered a Classic hopeful for 2020.

Under Moore, Mogul stalked the pace in the one-mile Juvenile Champions before moving nicely to the lead with a little less than a quarter-mile to race. Sinawann, who would finish second, briefly loomed a threat, but Mogul found plenty and turned back the challenge.

Mogul, a brother to the highly accomplished 3-year-old Japan, now has won 2 of his 3 starts. He’s by Galileo out of Shastye, by Danehill.