Tarnawa takes on two top males in Irish Champion

Tarnawa, winner of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland, and St. Mark’s Basilica, the winner of the French Derby in June and two other Group 1 races this year, make up half the field in Saturday’s Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown Racecourse.

St. Mark’s Basilica, trained by Aidan O’Brien, is expected to be even-money, while Tarnawa will be around 2-1 against 3-1 Poetic Flare, winner of the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, and Patrick Sarsfield, a Group 3 winner in Ireland last year who will be an outsider.

The $1.18 million Irish Champion Stakes at 1 1/4 miles is the country’s richest race for 3-year-olds and up. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 6.

Tarnawa, trained by Dermot Weld, has started once since the BC Turf last November, winning the Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at the Curragh by an easy 6 1/2 lengths at 1-2 on Aug. 5. A 5-year-old mare, Tarnawa was loaded in the gate without jockey Colin Keane, and closed from the back of a field of eight. Keane has the mount in the Irish Champion Stakes.

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The distance of the Irish Champion Stakes is an ideal fit for St. Mark’s Basilica, who will be ridden by Ryan Moore. The French Derby was run at 1 5/16 miles. St. Mark’s Basilica followed that success with a victory in his debut against older horses in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Sandown Racecourse near London on July 3.

St. Mark’s Basilica has won four consecutive Group 1 races, including the Dewhurst Stakes at seven furlongs last October at Newmarket Racecourse in England, and the French 2000 Guineas at a mile at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on May 16 in his 3-year-old debut.

In Saturday’s Group 1 Matron Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile at Leopardstown, O’Brien starts 6-5 favorite Mother Earth, a two-time Group 1 winner in one-mile turf races this year in the English 1000 Guineas for 3-year-old fillies at Newmarket in May and the Prix Rothschild against fillies and mares at Deauville on Aug. 3.

Pearls Galore, the winner of two Group 3 races in recent months for trainer Paddy Twomey, was the 6-1 second choice in early betting in a field of 13.

The winner of the $354,600 Matron Stakes receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders. Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 6.

The winner of Saturday’s Group 2 Juvenile Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile at Leopardstown earns a berth to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 5.

O’Brien and Moore team with the maiden Stone Age, winless in two starts. O’Brien’s son Joseph runs Maritime Wings, who was second in the Group 2 Futurity Stakes at the Curragh on Aug. 21.

Hurricane Lane tops St. Leger

Irish Derby winner Hurricane Lane will be an odds-on favorite to win his third consecutive Group 1 race in Saturday’s $1.02 million English St. Leger for 3-year-olds at about 1 13/16 miles at Doncaster Racecourse in northern England.

Hurricane Lane won the Irish Derby at 1 1/2 miles at the Curragh on June 26 and won the Grand Prix de Paris for 3-year-old colts and fillies at Longchamp on July 14 in his most recent start.

Trained by Charlie Appleby, Hurricane Lane’s only loss in six starts was a third in the English Derby to the top-class Adayar in June.

Aidan O’Brien has four of the 10 starters in the St. Leger, including High Definition, who is winless in three group-level stakes this year.