Irish St Leger Rematch Will Be Race Of Weekend

Successor did the job nicely at Wexford on Saturday.

Weekend Round-Up
He’s got a workable rating and should have little trouble in adding a handicap or two along the way. Ligeti ran OK in the same race, his jumping was indifferent at times but again, once handicapped he should win races.

Young Turk won his maiden hurdle at Bellewstown and he’s a nice horse for the future. I knew he’d appreciate the step up to 2m4f, and being a point-to-point winner, three-miles should bring about more improvement. He beat a horse Noel Meade rates highly in his point-to-point called Minella Fair. He’s your typical Gigginstown horse that should come into his own over fences.

Valgor Du Ronceray is part of a Gigginstown dispersal heading to the sales this week so I was relieved to get a win from him before he moves on. He’s a reliable, consistent sort who could do well in the UK where the racing is sometimes not as competitive.

Champions Weekend
Looking ahead to Champions Weekend, Churchill will take all the beating in the Irish Champion Stakes. I thought his run in the Juddmonte International was an excellent run.

Himself and Barney Roy might just have played the race to Ulysses. The encouraging thing to take from the race was how strong he was to the line, battling back to take second from Barney Roy.

Order Of St George
I was lucky to have had some great days on Order Of St George, and he’ll be very hard to beat in attempting to win the Irish St Leger for a second time. I think his versatility is one of his stand-out attributes, he’s as good over 2m4f as 1m6f, and had the class to finish third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last October over 1m4f.

His dual with Big Orange in the Ascot Gold Cup will live long in the memory.

The rematch in the Irish St Leger could be the race of the weekend!

Rekindling has got an entry in the Irish St Leger but the English equivalent at Doncaster is a more likely alternative. Intricately will run in the Matron Stakes on Saturday. I’ll run as many of the handicappers as is possible but it’s tough to get into the races, let alone win them!