A New Order

[Wandering Eyes]

With Order of St George (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) relieved of duties, the feature of the second day of Irish Champions weekend at The Curragh, the G1 Comer Group International Irish St Leger, is open to new blood. Aidan O’Brien’s unending strength-in-depth means that despite losing his dual winner he still saddles the favourite in the 3-year-old Flag of Honour (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and an old-stager in Idaho (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) still more than capable in this kind of company. Flag of Honour has proven particularly at home over this track and 14-furlong trip when winning the July 1 G3 Curragh Cup and Aug. 25 G3 Irish St Leger Trial and is a tough nut to crack from the front.

“Flag of Honour is in good form. He won’t have a problem with any ease in the ground and he stays well,” Aidan O’Brien commented. “He was very comfortable when he went up to a mile and a half. He’s a very honest and straightforward horse. Idaho is a solid horse. Obviously we know that he stays well as he’s been running over two miles. He’s in good form as well.”

Joseph upstaged O’Brien senior with Lloyd Williams’s Latrobe (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) in the G1 Irish Derby here June 30 and this looks a softer option than Doncaster. “He’s a grand big horse, uncomplicated and he should be better next year,” Joseph O’Brien commented. “He only had one start at two and he progressed a lot over the winter. Because he’s a big horse he’s still relatively lightly-raced. He should get the trip and we’ll see what happens. It wouldn’t be guaranteed he will stay, but you’d have to be quite hopeful.”

There is a solid older horse lurking in Khalid Abdullah’s Weekender (GB) (Frankel {GB}). He was no match for stablemate Muntahaa (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) in the Aug. 25 Ebor H. at York, but he carried top weight in a better-than-average renewal of that prestigious affair and this is a below-par edition of this race so he slots in well.

Race of the day is the G1 Goffs Vincent O’Brien National S., where ‘TDN Rising Star’ Quorto (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) bids to emulate his sire in following up here after taking the G2 Superlative S. at Newmarket on July 14. He bears an uncanny resemblance to him at present and success here will place him at the forefront of the reckoning for the 2019 2000 Guineas.

“This race will decide the main contenders for the Classics next year,” Charlie Appleby said. “He had a nice break after the Superlative and he has come back better than ever. We also had the option of the Champagne S. if it looked like coming up very soft in Ireland, but it looks like it will be no worse than good-to-soft and that should be fine. He has an action that suggests he’ll actually appreciate ground on the easy side of good, although obviously you couldn’t fault what he’s done on fast ground so far. Until we put the gun to his head, so to speak, we won’t know for sure, but as long as it doesn’t go very soft, I think he’ll handle it.”

Standing in his way is Ballydoyle’s July 26 G3 Tyros S. and Aug. 26 G2 Futurity S. winner Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who is joined by three stablemates headed by Christmas (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who was just a half-length behind him in the Futurity. “Anthony Van Dyck is in good form,” Aidan O’Brien said. “We were delighted with him the last day and he seems to have come out of the race well. He’s a lazy type of horse. He has the experience now with four runs under his belt and we can finish up after this or he can step up.”

Now a regular presence in Ireland’s main encounters for juvenile fillies, Anthony and Sonia Rogers’s Skitter Scatter (Scat Daddy) takes in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. having beaten four of her re-opposing rivals in the course-and-distance G2 Debutante S. three weeks ago. That followed a win in the G3 Silver Flash S. also over seven furlongs at Leopardstown July 26 and it is hard to see where she will stop at present. Trainer Patrick Prendergast is uncertain of her ceiling.

“She couldn’t have done any more the last day. I thought she won quite well and she won with a little bit in hand,” he commented. “What makes her a little bit exceptional is that she’s a small filly in stature, but she has an incredible attitude. She’s an aggressive little filly and she’s very competitive at home on the gallops and I believe that she wants to win. Going to the Moyglare, we would be conscious–and it’s my job to worry–are we going to the well once too often? But she has very sporting owners and they know all about that. If it doesn’t work we’ve lost nothing, it’s been a great year and she’ll go back to the stud on her holidays.”

Interestingly, Ryan Moore is sticking with the Debutante third Zagitova (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) over ‘TDN Rising Star’ Just Wonderful (Dansili {GB}) despite the latter’s impressive success in the Sept. 1 G3 Flame of Tara S. over a mile here last time.

“Just Wonderful won over a mile the last day and we don’t think she’ll have any problem coming back to seven furlongs. She’s in good form,” Aidan O’Brien said. “Zagitova is in good form, too. We thought that she would come forward from the run the last day. The experience would have done her good and we’ve been happy with her since.”

With the June 22 G3 Albany S. and Aug. 11 G3 Sweet Solera S. winner Main Edition (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) and July 28 G3 Prix Six Perfections and Aug. 18 G2 Prix du Calvados scorer Beyond Reason (Ire) (Australia {GB}) adding gravitas to proceedings, this renewal will help to organise a pecking order among the 2-year-old fillies. Charlie Appleby said of the latter, “She has progressed with every run and I expect her to give a good account of herself. She’s shown at Deauville she appreciates a bit of give in the ground, so conditions shouldn’t be a problem.”

Charlie Johnston, assistant to trainer Mark, said of Main Edition, “We are really happy with her and we are looking forward to Sunday. She seems to be in good order at home. The seven-furlong trip is not a worry and she has won on fast ground and on softer ground, so she is pretty versatile. She has got to a live chance.”

With the G1 Derrinstown Stud Flying Five S. failing to attract the likes of Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal) and Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), this might rest between the G1 Nunthorpe S. also-rans Havana Grey (GB) (Havana Gold {Ire}), Take Cover (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) and Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy) who were fifth, sixth and eighth respectively. If the latter can recapture the form of his success in last year’s G1 Phoenix S. here it could be an ideal opportunity but it would have been better for him had the rain stayed away from Kildare. Havana Grey possesses ruthless pace, as he demonstrated when upstaging the course specialist Caspian Prince (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) and subsequent Nunthorpe runner-up Mabs Cross (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) in the July 22 G2 Sapphire S. over this track and trip and he was exposed and isolated in York’s prestige sprint.

“We’re very happy with him and we’re looking forward to Sunday,” trainer Karl Burke said. “Obviously he ran well at York on the far side of the track. I’m not saying he’d have beaten the first two, but he is a game horse and if he had something chasing him down, I think he might have finished third.”

In the G2 Moyglare “Jewels” Blandford S., His Highness The Aga Khan’s Eziyra (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) looks rock-solid after her latest third placing in a strong renewal of the Aug. 23 G1 Yorkshire Oaks. That backed up the impression she gave when winning the 12-furlong G3 Ballyroan S. at Leopardstown a fortnight previously. Still relatively unexposed, George Strawbridge’s 3-year-old Who’s Steph (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) was successful in Leopardstown’s Apr. 14 G3 Ballylinch Stud 1000 Guineas Trial over seven furlongs and the G3 Derrinstown Stud 1000 Guineas Trial at a mile May 13, but may need this reintroduction having been off since finishing seventh in the May 27 G1 Irish 1000 Guineas over this course and distance.

ParisLongchamp’s trio of “Arc trials” will offer the customary mix of genuine clues and red herrings as far as the main event is concerned in three weeks’ time. In the G1 Qatar Prix Vermeille, the only Group 1 winner in the line-up is the Aug. 5 Preis der Diana heroine Well Timed (Ger) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), with a section of the remainder already promising to reach that zenith. Godolphin’s Kitesurf (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is one, having produced a career-best last time when taking Deauville’s G2 Prix de Pomone over 12 1/2 furlongs Aug. 19. “If Kitesurf brings her best level of form to this race, she will go close,” trainer Andre Fabre predicted.

A fascinating cast includes the June 21 G2 Ribblesdale S. heroine Magic Wand (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who was fifth in the Aug. 23 G1 Yorkshire Oaks but who has always looked a top-class filly in the making, and the Aug. 12 G3 Prix Minerve scorer Worth Waiting (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}). A steady improver coming to a peak, Saif Ali’s bay had His Highness The Aga Khan’s Zarkamiya (Fr) (Frankel {GB}), the daughter of Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar), soundly beaten in third in that Deauville contest.

The G2 Qatar Prix Foy features the comeback of last year’s G1 Irish Derby and G1 St Leger winner Capri (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who has been absent since taking the G3 Alleged S. at Naas Apr. 13 and he faces a tough assignment against a trio of high-class Andre Fabre trainees. They are the July 1 G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud hero Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), last year’s Arc runner-up Cloth of Stars (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) and the defending GI Breeders’ Cup Turf title holder Talismanic (GB) (Medaglia d’Oro). All of the trio have the capacity to be real Arc candidates on their best day and Fabre said of the latter pair, who carry the Godolphin silks, “Talismanic is happy and well in himself. This is a prep race for the Arc and he is discovering Longchamp for the first time. He’s fairly laid-back at home, so we’ll know a bit more about his readiness for the Arc after Sunday. Cloth of Stars is making his comeback after a fine run [when fourth] in the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. The saddle slipped turning for home and the jockey felt he was travelling very strongly at the time, but it completely unbalanced him. He’s a horse with a very good turn-of-foot on his day. He’s in good order and this race will tell us where he goes next.”

The G2 Qatar Prix Niel looks to be lacking a genuine Arc contender unless Neufbosc (Fr) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) can find some extra improvement on his latest second to the subsequent Leger hero Kew Gardens (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris over this course and distance on July 14. Charlie Appleby sent his best 3-year-old middle-distance colts to Doncaster and instead saddles the unbeaten Aug. 23 Listed Grand Prix de Clairefontaine winner Brundtland (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who will act as a gauge as to the merit of the domestic Classic generation. The G3 Qatar Prix du Pin sees another pair of Godolphin-Fabre dignitaries tackle each other in last year’s G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest runner-up Inns of Court (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and the July 29 G1 Prix Rothschild third Rosa Imperial (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}). The G3 Qatar Prix du Petit Couvert plays host to the June 23 G1 Diamond Jubilee S. runner-up City Light (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Shadwell’s up-and-coming 3-year-old sprinter Tantheem (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) who annexed Deauville’s G3 Prix de Meautry over six furlongs last time on Aug. 26.

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