Irish Champions Weekend is a brilliant event, so it will be a hard one to watch it from the sidelines.
Leopardstown | Race 1: Listed Ingabelle Stakes
Diamond Necklace is a filly by St Mark’s Basilica, who was a good winner of a race at the Curragh last month which usually turns out to be pretty good. I think she’ll step forward and Leopardstown should suit her well. She could be hard to beat.
Leopardstown | Race 2: 3yo+ Handicap
Via Sistina may be Australia’s reigning Horse of the Year, but she has ample competition within trainer Chris Waller’s prestigious stable alone to retain that title.
Via Sistina won her first start of the current Australia season by slightly less than a half-length over stablemate Aeliana in the Group 1 Winx Stakes at seven furlongs at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Aug. 23.
At 1 1/4 miles on turf, Delacroix has been almost unbeatable this year, leaving the 3-year-old a deserving favorite in Saturday’s Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown Racecourse in Ireland.
Delacroix, trained by Aidan O’Brien for the Coolmore syndicate, won two Group 3 races for 3-year-olds at 1 1/4 miles in Ireland in the spring before he finished ninth as the 2-1 favorite in the Group 1 English Derby at 1 1/2 miles on June 7 at Epsom Downs in his only start at the distance.
By Leo Schlink
Jamie Richards’ stable stocks continued to rise at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (10 September) after the New Zealand trainer slotted his second double in two meetings as Storming Dragon claimed joint leadership of the HK$1.5 million DBS x Manulife Million Challenge.
Fresh from a brace at the season-opening fixture at Sha Tin on Sunday (7 September), Richards struck with Storming Dragon and To Infinity to erase the memories of a challenging 2024/25 campaign when he saddled 21 winners.
by Declan Schuster
Riding high after a monumental success in South Korea on Sunday afternoon (7 September), Jerry Chau returns to Hong Kong racing on Wednesday (10 September) at Happy Valley aiming to kick on with the same momentum which resulted in an unlikely G3 Korea Sprint (1200m, sand) triumph on Self Improvement.
Diktaean and Self Improvement produced upset wins in Group 3 stakes at Seoul Racecourse in South Korea on Sunday to earn automatic berths for Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
Diktaean (6-1) won the $1.16 million Korea Cup at 1 1/8 miles by a length over 6-1 Changcheng Glory, an Iowa-bred gelding by Mor Spirit who is based in Hong Kong.
Ramjet finished third as the 13-10 favorite. Earlier this year, Ramjet finished sixth in the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia and ninth in the $12 million Dubai World Cup.
The results of the Arc trials on Sunday at Longchamp, as well as an upset Saturday in England, confirmed what appeared to be the case before Sunday: Depending on your framing, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 5 is coming up unusually murky or especially weak.
