RACING WEEKEND PREVIEWS:DESPITE THE build-up being dominated by the British pair Nathaniel and Snow Fairy, St Nicholas Abbey can prove yet again that when it comes to winning the €750,000 Red Mills Irish Champion Stakes, you can't beat having Aidan O'Brien on your side.
Only now-retired legendary jockey Mick Kinane can compete with the champion trainer’s record in the centrepiece of a triple-Group One weekend in Ireland that rates as possibly the best in the entire racing calendar here.
Both men have landed the mile and a quarter highlight seven times and bookmakers reckon O’Brien will have to hang on at least another year before breaking out on his own.
Nathaniel has consistently dominated the ante-post betting all week, with last year’s runner-up Snow Fairy rated his biggest danger. The cross-channel pair will certainly be the focus right up to the off as both William Buick and Frankie Dettori are due to make a helter-skelter chopper ride across the Irish Sea after earlier riding in Haydock’s Group One Sprint.
In comparison, St Nicholas Abbey is approaching his first start at Leopardstown very much under the radar, always a dangerous proposition for those taking on the Ballydoyle behemoth on their own patch.
The dual-Coronation Cup and Breeders’ Cup winner has never won at a mile and a quarter but ran honourably in defeat behind the mighty Frankel at York last month, leading two out and only failing by a nose to hold second from Farhh.
The need to test Frankel’s stamina that day resulted in St Nicholas Abbey being ridden more prominently than usual and Joseph O’Brien is likely to be much more patient now, especially with stable companion Daddy Long Legs likely to cut out a searching gallop.
That in theory should help Nathaniel too but his trainer John Gosden was at pains yesterday to stress how his star won’t be cherry-ripe for this.
“This is a road on the way, if you like,” he said. “He’s in form but he’s not really fully wound up for a race like this. It’s very much the Arc we’re looking at.”
Snow Fairy just failed to So You Think last year and there must be a slight worry about the “bounce” factor considering her superb return from injury at Deauville a few weeks ago. There is also Dettori’s 0-3 record on a filly whose record suggests she goes best for Ryan Moore.
Ballydoyle completed the Champion-Matron Stakes double a couple of years ago and it could be on again today, this time with Maybe in the mile Group One.
Last year’s winner Emulous will attempt to become the first back-to-back Matron winner but Maybe, a superstar juvenile, has not had circumstances right for her yet this year. Twice over a mile she has met soft ground, while she failed to stay in the Oaks. These conditions look ideal for a potential return to form.
Speaking Of Which was a nine length Gallinule winner on his last start and a 116 rating makes him a stand-out in the Group Three while Battle Of Marengo won by 11 at Gowran and can dominate the new Breeders’ Cup Trial.
It is 40 years since the sole Irish winner to date of Haydock’s Group One Betfred Sprint Cup, Abergwaun, and both Dandy Boy and Gordon Lord Byron face a big task in changing that statistic this afternoon.
The Australian star Ortensia and Bated Breath dominate the betting but Dandy Boy’s Co Tipperary-based trainer David Marnane was hopeful yesterday.
“He stumbled on the ground a bit in the Nunthorpe and he gets his trip and ground here,” he said yesterday. “I think if he can keep tabs on them early, he’ll be finishing well.”
