Now we know why Kevin Buckley was dispatched to Doncaster, writes Tony Stafford. Few trainers or owners would miss the chance of a ninth St Leger, a third in a row, and a possible 1-2-3 to boot, probably enough to wrap up another UK trainers’ title.
No, while the boys’ UK representative was on the Town Moor to watch another routine Classic win, the big guns were at Leopardstown where Derby flop Delacroix wound up a fine career at 10 furlongs by adding the Irish Champion Stakes to his victory in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown in July.
Meanwhile, earlier in the afternoon, Lambourn, who had benefited from Delacroix’s discomfort at Epsom, vied for the lead back at Doncaster, but again wilted in the closing stages as had been the case in the Great Voltigeur at York. His eventual fourth place, behind determined outsider Rahiebb and his second stablemate Stay True, was an honest enough performance, without perhaps the authority expected of a dual Derby winner.
That perhaps was the intended route for Delacroix when he lined up under Ryan Moore at Epsom. In retrospect, though, for his future stallion pretentions two top Group 1 wins at ten furlongs are immeasurably better box office for would-be owners of elite mares than the sort of mishmash race that Epsom provided on that first Saturday in June.
Lambourn’s future might be over further. Alternatively, as was the case for his predecessor, surprise winner of the Covid Derby, Serpentine, a change of location to Australia and a future pop at the Melbourne Cup might be on the cards.
No confusion though for Delacroix, who it seems we have seen for the final time. As Aidan O’Brien said after his defeat of the two classy UK-trained seven-year-olds Anmaat and Royal Champion, he’s booked for a place at Coolmore stud. “We’ve been waiting a long time for a Dubawi.” No wonder, with all those Galileo mares waiting for an appropriate suitor back in the velvet paddocks of Tipperary.
Having probably been disappointed by his initial few rides as the Ryan Moore replacement without a win, Christophe Soumillon at last got the financial reward his “have saddle will travel” initiative would have expected.
First prize in the Irish Champion Stakes was €712k to which the Belgian will also collect the rider’s proportion of the combined €147k for winning the two stakes races for juveniles on the Leopardstown card. Diamond Necklace looked a smart filly in the Listed event while in the Group 2, five-length winner Benvenuto Cellini sent out an early signal for next year’s Derby.
It must be something of a warning for Irish racing that the one-mile race could only muster three opponents for the 2/1 on chance from Aidan, especially as all three were trained by Aidan’s sons Joseph and Donnacha, whose connections picked up a far from negligible €47k for their pains.
I would have been at Doncaster in the normal way of things and it was hard not to admire the battling qualities of the Tom Marquand-ridden Scandinavia in the final Classic of the UK season, but it should also have been no surprise after his defeat of older stayers in the Goodwood Cup.
The collective £510k earned by the St Leger trio surely puts the championship beyond Andrew Balding although the master of Kingsclere continued picking up nice prizes all week, again benefiting from Oisin Murphy’s skills.
Scandinavia had comfortably beaten the Gosden-trained Sweet William in the Goodwood Cup and that older horse’s easy win in Friday’s Doncaster Cup, named for my old Daily Telegraph deputy Howard Wright, should have been enough to cement the favourite’s credentials.
Howard, who died earlier this year, had never missed a St Leger day since he was taken to the track as a toddler by his parents 80 years ago. Now, with sponsors Betfred attaching his name to the longest race of the meeting, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be with us there for many years to come.
At close of play on Saturday, the margin in favour of Ballydoyle over Balding had stretched to an almost unassailable £750k and Andrew will need to win at least three of the races on Champions Day at Ascot next month as well as some nice handicaps in the meantime to overcome that deficit. Not that Aidan won’t be interfering!
On the same day, one of my favourite horses was running in one of my favourite handicaps. The Portland Handicap over 5f140y is something of a specialist’s trip and there’s no question that Jim Goldie’s horses know how to win it.
On Saturday, Jim’s Eternal Sunshine stuck out his neck to make it three wins in the last four runnings of the race (one of them via appeal). In doing so he denied another big sprint handicap win for the Peter Charalambous legend Apollo One. A regular big player in many valuable sprints over the past three seasons, he seems back at his best and nothing would please me more than if he could knock off another one by the end of the season.
- TS