Racing: Sea The Stars' participation in Sunday's Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown hangs in the balance after further rain in Ireland. The Currabeg handler sounded downbeat about the brilliant colt attempting to add to his remarkable haul of Group One wins following more showers on Monday.
Oxx said: “All is well with the horse. He came out of his last race in good shape and I couldn’t be happier with him. It has been raining away here all morning, though, and the forecast for the rest of the week is not in our favour.
“It was supposed to be wet this morning and then clear away, but there is no sign of that yet — or there isn’t here anyway. The rest of the week is showery, and the showers could be heavy at times, so we just have to hope that Leopardstown misses the rain that is forecast for the area as a whole.
“Leopardstown is a free-draining track, but it will need to be, and we’ll have to see how things look in another couple of days. We’ll have to see what the track has had today. They were starting off with good, good to firm ground, so they were in a good place to begin with.
“If we miss the weekend we will prepare him for the Arc and see what the ground is like there.”
Leopardstown was hit by a late burst of rainfall during Monday afternoon, which has eased the ground.
General manager Tom Burke said on Monday: “We were fortunate to be dry yesterday and overnight.
“There is sunshine and showers forecast for the rest of the week, with heavier rain on Wednesday, but it won’t be anything like what it has been today. The rain will have pushed us back to good to yielding, but that is only a guess.
“The rest of the week looks in our favour, and we were starting from a good position.”
Paddy Power make it odds-on that Sea The Stars swerves the Leopardstown showdown. The Irish layers quote the dual Classic winner at 4-7 not to run, while making him 5-4 to line up for a rematch with Aidan O’Brien’s Fame And Glory.
Should he take his chance, Oxx acknowledges the tough task facing the Cape Cross colt, who again tackles the Irish Derby winner, a length and three-quarters adrift when the pair clashed at Epsom.
Oxx added: “You have to expect that sort of opposition when he is racing in the class that he does. He has had tough opposition every time he has run this season, and this weekend will be no different.
“I see Aidan also has Mastercraftsman in there so whether Aidan is going to run him or not I don’t know, but it will be a tough race.”
The pair are amongst 11 confirmations for the race.
Mastercraftsman, runner-up to Sea The Stars at York last time, has surprisingly stood his ground, with Grand Ducal, Red Rock Canyon, Rockhampton and Set Sail completing the O’Brien sextet of possibles.
Dermot Weld has Casual Conquest and Famous Name to choose from, while Long Loch and Lord Admiral complete the entries.
The Tracey Collins-trained Long Loch was a distant eighth in the Irish Derby but has since won two races and finished third in a Listed contest at Fairyhouse.
Collins quipped: “We’re not taking on much there and they might be afraid to take us on.”
Michael Stoute’s Doctor Fremantle was one notable absentee from the list.
The Stoute-trained four-year-old bagged the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket on his most recent outing, but will not make the journey to Ireland having missed a piece of work.