More than half of the nine-horse field has a serious chance of victory at Leopardstown on Saturday, as some of the top flat racers of the season battle to win the Irish Champion Stakes.
Only 3.67 separates the first five in the market, according to William Hill, with the current favourite being King Of Steel, at 4.33.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: September 8th, 5:00 P.M. (BST)
Roger Varian’s three-year-old has raced three times this season, all over a mile and a half. He was second in the Epsom Derby, won the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot and was third at the same course in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes in late July.
Kevin Stott retains the ride in the hope that the two fewer furlongs to travel will be what the horse needs to break his Group 1 duck.
Winner of the Epsom Derby, Auguste Rodin, who then doubled up by winning the Irish Derby in early July is the second favourite this time, at 4.50.
After those two triumphs, Aidan O’Brien’s three-year-old came crashing back to earth by coming last of 10 in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth. Ryan Moore keeps the ride in this first attempt to bounce back.
O’Brien and Moore were successful in this race last year with Luxembourg; in fact, O’Brien has trained the last four winners. Luxembourg is a 12.00 shot this time, winning the Tattersalls Gold Cup in May but only fourth in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth.
Hollie Doyle continues her partnership aboard British 1000 Guineas winner Nashwa (6.50), who since has finished third in the Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood and second in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York in what was John & Thady Gosden’s four-year-old’s first taste of Group 1 races with colts.
Also 6.50 is Owen Burrows’ Alflaila, ridden by Jim Crowley. The four-year-old comes into this on the back of four successive victories, spread over 14 months, most recently in the Group 2 York Stakes in July, his first race at that level.
Frankie Dettori is looking for a sixth and final Irish Champion win aboard Onesto (8.00), last year’s runner-up, for Fabrice Chappet.
Fourth behind Inspiral in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville last month, he also finished in mid-division in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and seventh in the Japan Cup at Tokyo last autumn.
At 9.00, Al Riffa has never finished outside the top two in his five-race career but will be making his open-age Group 1 debut. Sprewell (34.00) was fourth in the British and sixth in the Irish derbies; Point Lonsdale (101.00) will do well to stay with the rest.
