Racing

Illinois tops Leger betting as Ballydoyle team set to attack St Leger in force

Irish Oaks winner You Got To Me supplemented into world’s oldest classic at Doncaster

Stephen Ryder with Henry Longfellow and Khurram Sheikh with Illinois; the latter be leading the charge for Aidan O'Brien in the St Leger at Doncaster. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
Brian O'Connor
Tue Sept 10 2024 - 06:00

Aidan O’Brien’s phone could get busy this week as jockeys and their agents press their case to get on the Ballydoyle bandwagon for Saturday’s Betfred St Leger at Doncaster.

With Ryan Moore on duty at Leopardstown for the first leg of the Irish Champions Festival, O’Brien’s number two Wayne Lordan is set to travel to Yorkshire and team up with the ante-post favourite Illinois.

However, as Ballydoyle’s riding team is stretched to cover top-class racing on both sides of the Irish Sea, prime classic opportunities also look likely among O’Brien’s other Leger entries.

The Irishman is in pursuit of an eighth English Leger and has half of the 10 entries left in the world’s oldest classic after Monday’s latest acceptance stage.

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As well as Illinois, the unbeaten Jan Brueghel and Grosvenor Square, winner by 20 lengths on his last start at the Curragh, are also towards the top of the betting.

Irish Derby hero Los Angeles is left in too but is being targeted at the Irish Champion Stakes instead while Euphoric is an outsider.

Asked about jockey arrangements O’Brien said on Monday: “I’m not sure yet. They are working in the morning. It looks at the moment like Wayne might be going.”

Lordan can’t ride them all though and the potential to emulate Frankie Dettori who picked up a lucky Leger spare on O’Brien’s 2005 winner Scorpion could be there.

What had looked like being overwhelming Ballydoyle dominance for Saturday’s final classic of the English season altered though when You Got To Me was supplemented into the Leger at a cost of £50,000 (€59,000).

Ralph Beckett’s filly beat Content in July’s Irish Oaks and although places were subsequently reversed in the Yorkshire Oaks, You Got To Me represents a proper challenge to the Irish raiders.

“I don’t think stamina will be an issue. She seems in good shape. We’re conscious that her best form is on good ground or faster and it looks like being that at the weekend if the forecast is correct. It felt like a good fit for her,” said Beckett.

The trainer was a Leger winner with Simple Verse in 2015 although it required a successful appeal against her demotion in favour of O’Brien’s Bondi Beach by the race-day stewards. Beckett was also runner-up in the Leger with Talent and third with another filly, Look Here.

“We’ve been first, second and third with fillies in the Leger. I wouldn’t say we’ve always got it right, but it is certainly not a race that holds any fears, for sure,” he added.

Sunway, runner-up to Los Angeles in the Irish Derby during the summer, is also set to line up at Town Moor.

The Ballydoyle team have left four in the Group Two Champagne Stakes on Saturday’s Doncaster card. They include Bernard Shaw, a nine-length maiden winner at Dundalk on his last start.

Ancient Wisdom’s Leger defection due to likely quick ground frees up William Buick for a busy transatlantic weekend. Godolphin’s number one rider will be at Woodbine on Saturday night before jetting back to Ireland and riding at the Curragh leg of the Irish Champions Festival on Sunday.

Buick is set to team up with Godolphin’s top two-year-old Ancient Truth in the Goffs National Stakes where he is likely to meet O’Brien’s unbeaten star Henri Matisse.

“He’s a horse who has taken every run with ease and is a Superlative winner, they have a good record in the National Stakes. He’s a very progressive horse and I think he’s a horse who is improving the whole time,” said Buick.

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor is the racing correspondent of The Irish Times. He also writes the Tipping Point column