Vadeni takes on elders again in Irish Champion

Vadeni, as talented as any 3-year-old in Europe, headlines the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday at Leopardstown Racecourse. And Homeless Songs, as talented as any 3-year-old filly in Europe, is the early favorite in the Group 1 Matron Stakes, also part of a blockbuster afternoon of racing at Leopardstown.

Both races are part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In series, the 1 1/4-mile Irish Champion offering automatic fees-paid entry into the BC Turf and travel expenses to Keeneland, the one-mile Matron linked to the BC Filly and Mare Turf. An undercard race, the Champions Juvenile Stakes for 2-year-olds, is a Win and You’re In race for the BC Juvenile Turf.

Vadeni starts for the first time since he beat older rivals July 2 in the Eclipse Stakes over 1 1/4 miles at Sandown Park in England. That race came about one month after Vadeni had stepped into the spotlight winning the Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby, by five lengths while making his Group 1 debut. Trained by Jean-Claude Rouget for his breeder, the Aga Khan, Vadeni, by Churchill, is by no means a physically imposing colt. He is, however, handy and game and possesses an excellent turn of foot. The Prix du Jockey Club is run around right-handed turns and Leopardstown races go left-handed, but both courses are relatively flat by European standards, and Vadeni undoubtedly fits the spot.

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Vadeni did get 10 pounds from Mishriff while beating him just a neck in the Eclipse, and while Vadeni surely has continued maturing in the two months since that race, the weight spread between the two Saturday is down to six pounds. A mile and a quarter is Mishriff’s trip and in his most recent race, the International at York, at a comparable 1 5/16 miles, he had the misfortune of running into the world’s best grass horse, Baaeed, who beat him by more than six lengths.

Luxembourg was considered the best 3-year-old in the yard of trainer Aidan O’Brien this spring, but an injury after his third-place finish in the 2000 Guineas kept Luxembourg from his intended target, the Derby at Epsom. He returned from a 3 1/2-month break winning an Irish Group 3 on Aug. 13 and flies under the radar into the Irish Champion.

Matron Stakes

Homeless Songs hasn’t seen action since May 22, when she brilliantly won the Irish 1000 Guineas, beating subsequent Epsom Oaks winner Tuesday by more than five lengths. She gets five pounds from her older rivals in the Matron and may need every bit of it to handle the tough 4-year-old Saffron Beach. Already aimed toward the BC Filly and Mare Turf, Saffron Beach comes off wins in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge at Royal Ascot and in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville, where she beat Matron rival Tenebrism by 2 1/2 lengths while conceding seven pounds. Tenebrism in her previous start had beaten 3-year-old colts going a straight mile in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat.

Post time for the Irish Champion is 10:45 a.m. Eastern with the Matron scheduled for 11:55 a.m.

Pyledriver out of Arc

While the great Baaeed, unbeaten in 10 starts, now is a likely runner in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, provided the ground is decent, Pyledriver, a powerhouse winner of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in his most recent race, will miss the Arc. His connections revealed this week that Pyledriver had suffered a mild setback that would cause him to miss key workouts for the Arc. The horse could instead show up in the Breeders’ Cup Turf or the Japan Cup later this year.