IRISH CHAMPION STAKES: THE IRISH weather has been a spoilsport all summer but it now looks like it has played ball just long enough to ensure the most eagerly-anticipated clash of the racing year between Sea The Stars and Fame And Glory goes ahead at Leopardstown this afternoon.
John Oxx made a surprise visit to the Dublin track last night and was so encouraged by the improvement in ground conditions over the last 48 hours that he has all but committed Sea The Stars to running in the Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes.
“John was pleasantly surprised with what he found and he is happy with the condition of the track. Sea The Stars is now most likely to run, unless there is a deterioration in the ground which is most unlikely,” the Leopardstown manager Tom Burke said last night.
“At this stage I would expect the ground by race time to be good, maybe with some good to yielding in parts,” he added.
It is a remarkable transformation from Wednesday when ground conditions were described as soft after almost an inch of rain drenched Leopardstown. Sea The Stars drifted right out to almost 15-1 in some ante-post betting lists for the €1million highlight but for once the weather has eased its grip to set up a mouth-watering clash.
Oxx will have another look at the track before racing today but the pressure of what had looked like being a final midday call on Sea The Stars’ participation now looks to have eased.
“Yielding ground could still be a bit on the slow side for Sea The Stars but a lot will depend on the condition of the straight which is usually a little better than the rest of the course,” Oxx said yesterday.
“The horse is ready to run and we would love to give the Irish public a chance to see him run. It would be disappointing not to be able to take part, particularly in a race that is regularly the highest rated race run in Europe. But we can’t let things like that cloud our decision,” the Curragh trainer added, before making his evening inspection.
In an age of instant satellite communication the resonance of having this Irish-bred, Irish-trained and Irish-ridden superstar competing for the only time in Ireland this year probably isn’t as great as it might have been in the past. But it is there nonetheless.
The first horse for 20 years to complete the 2,000 Guineas-Derby double, Sea The Stars has built upon that with an Eclipse victory against older horses and the form lines of his victories keep getting boosted to such an extent he is now the clear highest rated horse in the world.
If he lines up today the season’s dominant performer will be required to win a Group 1 for the fifth month in a row, and even then it will be onwards towards the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
It’s a gruelling schedule but Oxx’s belief that in Sea The Stars he has a freakish talent is a view shared by most impartial observers. And even the partial are in no doubt about the colt’s talent.
“Anyone who has seen Sea The Stars knows how good he is,” Aidan O’Brien considers. “He looks a top horse on fast ground and we’d love to be going to Leopardstown on nice ground – that would be a level playing field for all horses.”
The natural implication of the last statement is that the champion trainer believes that Fame And Glory can reverse Epsom Derby form with Sea The Stars. O’Brien also throws Mastercraftsman into the fray.
Team Ballydoyle will cling to the hope that their tactics were wrong at Epsom. It also looks significant that Mastercraftsman is also given another shot at Sea The Stars after the Juddmonte.
They represent an enormous challenge at the best of times but this time Sea The Stars won’t have his favoured fast ground conditions. It could require the performance of a lifetime to beat them — if he runs. But Sea The Stars hasn’t disappointed yet.
Today’s other Group 1, the Coolmore Matron Stakes, has two cross-channel trained fillies that could dominate. Heaven Sent wasn’t suited by soft ground in the Nassau and like Sea The Stars, every bit of improvement in the surface will suit her.
