Change of time for Champion Stakes

The Red Mills Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown this Saturday has been changed to an evening slot, with the big race now going to post at 5.45pm.

This €750,000 Group One 10-furlong contest looks set to be dominated by overseas raiders, with John Gosden’s Nathaniel set to go off ­favourite. Gosden’s stable star has only raced twice this season, winning the Coral Eclipse at Sandown before going down by a head to Danedream in the King George at Ascot.

Now a four-year-old, Nathaniel was a late entry to the field, having been supplemented for the race at a cost of €20,000, and he certainly has the credentials to make a huge impact in Saturday’s race.

Fellow UK raider Snow Fairy may well turn out to be the main danger however, with Ed Dunlop’s filly now a likely starter following an improvement in ground conditions at the Foxrock track. Snow Fairy has shown form at Leopardstown previously, having filled the runner-up berth 12 months ago behind So You Think and another big run is expected.

Aidan O’Brien is responsible for half of the 12 final acceptors, with St Nicholas Abbey heading the Ballydoyle charge.

He has been busy of late, competing against the mighty Frankel while Imperial Monarch looks the pick of the rest from the O’Brien draft.

John Oxx plans to run his Irish Derby runner-up Born To Sea while Dermot Weld can choose between Irish Oaks third Princess Highway and the durable Famous Name. 

Earlier this week, a spokesperson for Leopardstown Racecourse said, “We had lots of rain here over the past month but the recent good weather has seen things dry out considerably. We would be quite hopeful that the word good will appear in our going description come the weekend, as the forecast for the remainder of the week is encouraging.”

The supporting card at Leopardstown is strong, with the Group 1Coolmore Fusaichi Pegasus Matron Stakes and KPMG (Group 3) Enterprise Stakes other very interesting races on a card that is sure to attract a big turnout to the popular south Dublin track. 

 

Murtagh splits with the Aga Khan

Some behind the scenes manouvering has seen top jockey Johnny Murtagh end his association with leading owner, the Aga Khan.

A conflict of interest is ­believed to have been behind the hasty end to the severing of the agreement, with speculation rife that it was the result of a race at the Curragh ­recently that brought about an end to the arrangement, which produced two Irish Derby winners, not to mention a host of big-race successes.

While there has been no official confirmation, it is believed things came to a head following the Irish St Leger Trial at the Curragh recently, where Ursa Major defeated the Aga Khan-owned Hartani.
Murtagh would have been onboard Hartani but for being sidelined by a facial injury but instead he helped saddle the Tommy Carmody-trained Ursa Major.

Former champion National Hunt jockey Carmody has been making great strides in the training ranks of late since being set up by UK businessman Andrew Tinkler and currently rents a yard on the Curragh, which is owned by Murtagh.

Carmody was on duty at York when Ursa Major scored his latest success at headquarters, with Murtagh and his wife, Orla deputising for him and this is believed to have irked the Aga Khan’s organisation, who believed it to be a clear conflict of interest.

As is the case in most of these situations, both sides were remaining tight-lipped on the stand-off that had led to the break-up of what has been a very successful arrangement. 

Meath-born Murtagh is expected to continue his association with Oxx’s yard until the end of the current season, at least while there is speculation that Shane Foley, who is attached to Mick Halford’s yard and has ridden winners in the Aga Khan’s colours before, will pick up more rides now that Murtagh’s services are no longer retained.

A welcome change of luck for Madden

Galway owner/trainer Iggy Madden enjoyed a welcome change of luck as his Cherryantor sprung a 25-1 surprise in the Tote Now in Paddy Power Shops Handicap Hurdle at Roscommon on Monday night.
Without a win for over 12 months, Madden was entitled to a break and it came about here as his David Splaine-ridden outsider romped to victory.

The 88-rated son of Dushyantor moved into a challenging position on the approach to the home straight and, having got to the head of affairs two out, Cherryantor powered clear to beat 4-1 favourite Easy Reach by six-and-a-half lengths.

Madden, who combines running a successful Galway-based transport company with training at his Athenry yard, revealed, “That was badly needed. This horse has had his problems in the past and was off for a good while due to injury.

“He seemed to be under pressure down the back but he stayed going and David gave him a super ride.”
Half an hour earlier at the western venue, Limerick trainer Maureen Danagher was on the mark as her former point-to-pointer The Coleen Ban dug deep to land the two-and-a-half-mile Four Roads Mares’ Maiden Hurdle.

Backed at 20-1 in the morning and returned at 10-1 on-course, The Coleen Ban made most of the running under Brian Cawley but looked in trouble when tackled by 11-10 favourite Oscars Joy early in the home straight. To her credit, this daughter of Saddlers’ Hall wasn’t in the mood to give in, sticking her neck out in game fashion to beat Danny Mullins’ mount by a neck.

A poor evening for favourite backers was rounded off in the concluding bumper, where unconsidered 33-1 chance Josie S and B scored for his Ballinasloe hander, Shane Ryder.

Enterprising front-running tactics were employed here by jockey Steven Crawford, who sent his mount into a clear lead right from the start and, while eventual runner-up Klepht did close the gap somewhat in the final stages, the line came in time for the victorious daughter of High Rise, who had three-and-a-half lengths to spare over the 5-4 favourite.