Can The Real Auguste Rodin Stand Up In Irish Champion Stakes?

He has become something of an enigma, but Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) has the x-factor most dream of despite his sharp falls from grace and has the ball in his court ahead of Saturday's G1 Royal Bahrain Irish Champion S. Adept on Epsom's lively surface either side of unequal struggles through the rain-dampened sod at Newmarket and Ascot, Ballydoyle's beau ideal has the aid of the current heatwave at a Leopardstown track that he has already mastered when on the rise as a juvenile. Whatever the reason for his white-flag moments in the 2000 Guineas and King George, this is a colt that has proven that he can truly shift when it rides on top and none will be finishing to greater effect.

Like all good Derby winners, Auguste Rodin has a nemesis in King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Ryan Moore has his sights on that rival above all others.”King Of Steel probably deserves to head the betting given the way he beat our Voltigeur winner Continuous (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) at Royal Ascot and backed that up with a good third in the King George, but don't forget Auguste Rodin beat him fair and square in the Derby and he showed a lot of speed to win that day,” he said. “My colt obviously has a big question to answer after his lifeless run in the King George, but if he returns to his Epsom form then he has a big chance.”

Aidan O'Brien added, “We're really happy with him, the circumstances are all different for this. It's a mile and a quarter, quicker ground, he's drawn in rather than out and we've been happy with him since Ascot. There are a lot of things different this time. Ryan felt him come off the bridle early last time and didn't take a chance, he took the decision to protect him rather than damage him, which definitely wasn't the wrong thing.”

Amo Racing's game-changing King Of Steel, who at this stage could be argued has the edge in their private dispute having run a bigger average over their two encounters, is one of the best big horses of recent times and Ascot's mile and a half on soft ground would not have been his bag either. At least he kept fighting in the wake of the older, more seasoned boys up ahead and this, a qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf, is a golden opportunity to settle the argument once and for all.

Kevin Stott, who has been catapulted to the limelight by his partnership with this colossus, believes he is on the one with the bragging rights at present. “I wouldn't swap him for anything in the race and honestly believe he's the one they all have to beat,” he said on his William Hill blog. ” Going that slightly quicker tempo should allow him to get into a rhythm quicker and I can't wait to get back on board him again. He's been given plenty of time to get over his run in the King George and while it was a hard race, we think he'll have learnt a lot from it and I expect him to step forward mentally as much as anything here. He could easily go back to up in trip, but we feel this might be where he is at his optimum so the fact we haven't actually run him over it is something we are all really looking forward to.”

At this stage, the older horses hold sway after the big summer clashes and with the likes of TDN Rising Stars Onesto (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in here there is no guarantee that the Classic generation will win out. Nashwa is probably a dubious stayer at this distance and has the QEII written all over her, so Onesto looks the more intriguing given that he was less suited to the easier ground 12 months ago than Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). He has arguably shown more in one run in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois than that rival has in his major tests this term and this is undoubtedly the French colt's big moment.

Luxembourg has been so disappointing since his dynamic success in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup that it looks as if he is on the downward curve, while Shadwell's Alflaila (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) needs more than a fair share of Owen Burrows spell-casting if he is to jump from the G2 York S. to these kind of heights.

 

Is The Matron The Graveyard Of The Favourites?

Leopardstown's G1 Coolmore America “Justify” Matron S. is prone to surprise results, with five of the last six winners priced at 10-1 or bigger and two of them trading at 20-1 and 25-1. Perhaps it is the slight change of the season throwing the midsummer femmes fatales off track and bringing the autumn goddesses into their element, but this is a race where the formbook rarely holds water. With that in mind, The Aga Khan's G1 Irish 1000 Guineas and G1 Coronation S. heroine Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) is in the same boat that her opposing stablemate Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) was 12 months ago as she returns from her sojourn in this “Win and You're In” for the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Homeless Songs looked a “good thing” back then and faltered, much as Winter (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), Fancy Blue (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) had done in the preceding renewals. This ground is as quick as connections of Homeless Songs would like, while Tahiyra needs to do more than she has in her last two races to justify short odds. Perhaps Juddmonte's unflinching Zarinsk (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) is the answer, given her relentless run of success in her native country, or the newly-blinkered Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never).

Tahiyra's jockey Chris Hayes thinks she has what it takes to hold on to her mantle of leading 3-year-old filly miler. “She just finds everything so easy–she finds going fast easy, she finds going slow easy and there are no issues or anything with her,” he said. “I've sat on her plenty and she has strengthened up quite well–she's a stronger filly than she was earlier in the year.”

Moyglare Stud's Fiona Craig warned that Homeless Songs may yet be taken out of the Matron. “Homeless Songs is in good shape, she might be a week or two short and if Leopardstown don't water and it stays as hot and sunny as this and the ground is fast she probably won't run, but she's declared and we'll just see,” she said.

 

Can Shaquille Get Away With A Slow Start Again?

Saturday's third Group 1 is at Haydock and with the heat unrelenting the Betfair Sprint Cup is to staged on unusually fast ground which will not daunt connections of the seemingly-flawless G1 Commonwealth Cup and G1 July Cup hero Shaquille (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}). That said, his tendency to gift rivals a headstart might catch up with him eventually as it did the habitually stalls-wary Harry Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). In terms of sheer ability, the Camacho colt has a healthy advantage over a collection of sprinters that have found many ways to undermine their reputations.

Shaquille has undergone stalls schooling with specialists Craig and Jake Witherford and Camacho's husband and assistant Steve Brown is hoping they have got to the bottom of that particular quirk.

“You'd rather we had a conventional situation, but we haven't in his last two races. We've acknowledged that we had a problem, we've tried to do something about it, we're pleased with what happened at home and we hope to see that on the track on the day,” he said. “He looks really fit and well and everything has gone to plan. We planned four good bits of work, which he's done, and we haven't missed a day with him–I don't think we can have any gripes about his preparation at all.”

If there is one unknown in the line-up it is Peter Harris's Mill Stream (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) and while his last two wins in Deauville's Listed Prix Moonlight Cloud and G3 Prix de Meautry leave him with a bridge still to cross, he is at least a young colt on the up with confidence high. One of the older brigade who has been at times frustrating is Cheveley Park Stud's talented Sacred (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), but she is at least still unexposed at this trip with her four outings over six resulting in a narrow second to Khaadem (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in Royal Ascot's G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee S. in June. She will love the flat track, fast surface and fast pace and this could be her day at last.

Sacred's jockey Tom Marquand said, “Going back to a flat six furlongs on fast ground should be right up her alley and hopefully we will see her back to where she was before. She has shown on so many occasions that she belongs at this level. Hopefully she can get the job done on Saturday.”

 

The Supporting Cast

This is one of the European season's finest weekends and Saturday's action is boosted by the appearance of Ballydoyle's TDN Rising Star Diego Velazquez (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) in the G2 KPMG Champions Juvenile S., a “Win and You're In” for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf; and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf hero Victoria Road (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) in the G2 Dullingham Park S. on the Leopardstown card. There is also Kempton's G3 September S., which sees the high-class Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) tackle a mile and a half for the first time, and G3 Sirenia S. where TDN Rising Star Eben Shaddad (Calyx {GB}) puts his reputation on the line for Prince Faisal bin Khaled and Najd Stud and the Gosdens.

 

Sunday's Fixtures Set

Sunday's Curragh card and the ParisLongchamp Arc Trials fixture were firmed up on Friday, with Aidan O'Brien suggesting that the stable's big 2-year-olds City Of Troy (Justify) and Henry Longfellow (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) could line up in the G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. Declared alongside each other in opposition to the G1 Phoenix S. hero Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), the pair of TDN Rising Stars would make for a stellar clash.

“It's possible they could both run,” O'Brien said. “Obviously City Of Troy would prefer the ground to be quick, whereas Henry Longfellow handles an ease but they are both in good form.” The stable's multiple Group 1-winning stayer Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is one of five in the G1 Irish St Leger, while their unbeaten TDN Rising Star Ylang Ylang (GB) (Frankel {GB}) heads the nine fillies engaged in the G1 Moyglare Stud S.

Last year's G1 Flying Five heroine Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) has nine to beat in her repeat bid, while in Paris the eight fillies confirmed for the G1 Qatar Prix Vermeille include the starlets Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) and Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Jean-Louis Bouchard's G1 Grand Prix de Paris hero Feed The Flame (GB) (Kingman {GB}) is back in the G2 Qatar Prix Niel.

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Is V For Victory, As Longines Irish Champions Weekend Begins?

  With The Queen in everyone's thoughts on Saturday, her greatest pastime is celebrated at Leopardstown with the G1 Irish Champion S. offering a blend of some of Europe's finest families that she knew and appreciated so well. Chief among them is a pearl from the depths of The Aga Khan's ocean of breeding talent the UK's longest-serving monarch was able to fish from in her later years. It was Astrakhan, a wedding present from the late Aga Khan III, who provided her with her first flat winner at Hurst Park in 1950 while her cherished Gold Cup heroine Estimate (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}) was also gifted to her by his son and successor.

It would therefore in some small way be fitting if Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) could strike in the showcase event of Irish Champions weekend and the way the homebred has swaggered through the tests of the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G1 Eclipse points to him doing so. Of course, there are the uncertainties of the prevalent soft ground and tactics at a track that has a habit of catching out horses and jockeys, not to mention the formidable opposition, but there is something about the colt that has already marked the Stud's centenary year that hints at something special.

More in the mold of the “V” dynasty's speedier types Valixir (Ire) (Trempolino) and Val Royal (Fr) (Royal Academy) than the stouter members, the bay has zip as he demonstrated in a renewal of the Eclipse that put a much greater emphasis on mid-race speed than is usually the case. Many have pointed to the troubled passage of Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) making Prince Faisal's high-class stalwart an unlucky loser, but heading past the line at Sandown it was Vadeni who was taking off up the hill looking as if he had just joined in. “The pace wasn't crazy and that's why we all finished together,” Christophe Soumillon said, reflecting on that July 2 feature.  It was a little bit tactical, but he is quite easy to ride and very straightforward. It was a surprising win in the French Derby, because it is not very often that you see a horse winning a Group 1 with that kind of keenness.”

 

To The Left

Whereas it would be no surprise to see Vadeni win a top mile race as Valixir and Val Royal did before him, Mishriff is a true middle-distance powerhouse who will be out to draw the sting from his French foe this time. While the Gosdens' 5-year-old has developed slow-starting tendencies of late, his alert break in the G1 Juddmonte International suggests that compromising habit is behind him and he is back on a left-handed track which seems to play to his strengths. Of his last dozen outings, only three have been going in this direction on turf and they resulted in wins in last year's G1 Dubai Sheema Classic and Juddmonte International and a gallant second to the world's unrivalled best on grass in Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

Connections have been savvy enough to book the Irish master Colin Keane and Ted Voute is sounding hopeful that the operation's flagship performer can register a Group 1 win for the third consecutive year. “I expect Vadeni to prove hard to beat, but I think a few people felt we were unlucky in the Eclipse so let's see what happens on Saturday,” he said. “I suspect this will be the end of his season in Europe, so let's hope he can go out on a high.”

 

A True Test

If the comeback performance of Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) in The Curragh's G3 Royal Whip Aug. 13 failed to set the pulse racing, it did at least show that here is a colt with a will-to-win from a stable renowned for its indomitability in the elite domestic contests. There have been several brilliant overseas challengers who have come up against a wall here and defeat for the likes of Falbrav (Ire) (Fairy King), Motivator (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}), Ouija Board (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) testify that if you want this, you first have to wrest it off Ballydoyle. Not enough is as yet known about Luxembourg to make any steadfast claims as to his level of ability or stamina, but he has two aides in this and therefore possibly a tactical edge. Ryan Moore will have worked it all through his unparalleled racing brain many times. “That narrow victory last time didn't please everyone, but it did us and that's the main thing,” he confirmed on his betfair blog.

 

The Heffernan Factor

Helping Luxembourg's cause is the Peter Brant colourbearer Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who for a few days in early May looked poised to fill the Derby void left by the stable's number one blue riband hope's setback as he overwhelmed his peers in the G3 Derby Trial over this course and distance. One of the yard's brightest 3-year-olds in the spring, it is easy to forgive his recent efforts and the fact that he has Seamie Heffernan on board is a huge plus. Few jockeys ride this circuit with as much skill as the man who dominated the 2010 renewal on Cape Blanco (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and who pressured Ghaiyyath into submission on Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) two years ago. Of the riders in the saddle this time, he is the joint-winningmost alongside Ryan Moore so on this testing surface his rivals will be well-served to remember not to give him too much rope. With the underrated and undervalued G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup hero Alenquer (Fr) (Adlerflug {Ger}) in attendance on his favoured slow ground, this has the potential to turn into a war of attrition.

 

Making Hayes

With Dermot Weld's stable finally hitting top stride in the past few days after a largely uninspiring 2022 season, the way is paved for Moyglare's priceless 'TDN Rising Star' Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) to burst back onto the scene in the G1 Coolmore America 'Justify' Matron S. For the purists, there has been a lingering frustration that the clash of the two Frankel superfillies has yet to take place but Ascot's QEII is already calling for Inspiral (GB) and her Irish counterpart first needs to fulfil this obligation. That will be no easy task, with the increasingly unassailable Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) to subdue, but the edge has to be with the scintillating G1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine here. “The [Weld] horses have been frustrating during the summer and it was frustrating times with Homeless Songs as we had to keep backing off, but we have no excuses now as the rain has come,” jockey Chris Hayes said. “She is mad well and we are raring to go.”

 

When Two Rising Stars Meet

The first of the weekend's plentiful juvenile Classic pointers takes place on the Leopardstown card, with Ballydoyle's pair of TDN Rising Stars Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Tower Of London (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) lined up against each other in the G2 KPMG Champions Juvenile S. Ryan Moore has opted for the former, a son of Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who when at her best was a tour de force. “I'd be hopeful you will see a very good colt here,” the rider said of his pick. Tower Of London, a full-brother to Capri, looked more of a precocious sort than his sibling when winning over course and distance July 21 and it would be no surprise were he to assume the stable bragging rights here.

In the opening Listed Ballylinch Stud Irish EBF Ingabelle S. for unexposed fillies, there is a fascinating contrast between Team Valor International and Gary Barber's five-furlong Cork maiden winner Easy (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and The Aga Khan's stamina-laden Limerick maiden scorer Kayhana (Ire) (Harzand {Ire}) as Paddy Twomey and Dermot Weld open their select but potentially potent assault on the weekend.

 

Kyprios Heads Sunday Cast

With Doncaster's enhanced St Leger card shifted to Sunday, the afternoon looks a beast with quickfire assaults on the senses on Town Moor, at ParisLongchamp and The Curragh. The latter venue's equally powerful second half of the Irish Champions weekend was set out on Friday, with Ballydoyle's G1 Gold Cup and G1 Goodwood Cup hero Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) taking on 10 rivals in the G1 Comer Group International Irish St Leger including his full-sister Search For A Song (Ire) who captured it in 2019 and 2020. More than at Leopardstown, Rosegreen seem to have a firm grip on Sunday's fixture as they supply the favourites for the G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. and G1 Moyglare Stud S. in the G2 Futurity S.-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Aesop's Fables (Ire) (No Nay Never) and G2 Debutante S. scorer Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) respectively. Of the dozen that take the Moyglare test, The Aga Khan's 'TDN Rising Star' Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) looks to have Classic potential following her impressive debut at Galway July 26. There are 18 rivals lined up for the G1 Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Flying Five S. despite the foreboding presence of the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest and G1 Nunthorpe S. heroine Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), while the G2 Moyglare “Jewels” Blandford S. boasts Team Valor's G1 Pretty Polly S. heroine La Petite Coco (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}) as she takes on a dozen under a penalty.

 

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