Our Irish racing expert Tony Keenan has an each-way selection for this afternoon’s card at Leopardstown.
The summer just gone was a fine one, and all the main flat festivals were run on decent going, but the weather has turned in the last fortnight and the Irish Champions Festival will be different with Leopardstown clerk of the course Lorcan Wyer saying that ‘it’s the slowest ground we’ve had for this weekend in many a year’.
That lack of recent soft ground might well produce upsets though the two it should suit in the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at 5:30 are Anmaat and White Birch. Both shaped better than the result when they met in the Tattersalls Gold Cup in May though their lack of a recent run is a concern, Anmaat perhaps aiming back at Ascot next month and White Birch maybe more of an early season horse.
Cercene’s form is as good as any in the Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron Stakes (4:25), her figures in Group 1s reading 312, and she seems more genuine than some of her rivals, notably January who has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory the last twice, something her trainer has even commented on in the run up to the race.
Aidan O’Brien is trying something new with her by putting on cheekpieces at least. The negative with Cercene is the ground, her peak effort coming on good to firm at Royal Ascot though she did handle a testing surface last time in the Nassau for all that race was messy.
Another race with little soft ground form is the CMG Group Stakes at 3:50 and It’s A Heartbeat is an intriguing runner. John O’Donoghue has kept her away from fast ground during the summer since she bolted up in a Curragh maiden in June and she produced a carbon copy of that win when upped in grade for a handicap at the same track last month, that race coming in a good Timeform timefigure.
She was weak in the betting then after an 80-day break so there should be improvement for the run, and the strong suspicion is that slower ground will suit her even better. Her price has contracted markedly since declarations, however.
Both Johnny Murtagh horses, Alakazi and Chicago Critic, have good claims in the Tonybet Solonaway Stakes (4:55) for all the ground is slower than they might like. They raced against each other in the obvious trial for this, the Desmond Stakes over course and distance last month, and both were better than the bare form.
Alakazi looked in need of a stiffer test which he will get here as the Leopardstown track will be at its widest and is the type of improving three-year-old his trainer does well with while Seamie Heffernan overdid the hold-up tactics on Chicago Critic and he finished better than anything.
Diamond Necklace is the headline act in the opening Ballylinch Stud Irish EBF Ingabelle Stakes at 2:15 though she might be a beatable favourite looking at the form of her debut win. A few of the fancied ones disappointed in that race while two that have come out of the race have run poorly. It is hard to settle on one to beat her though Caught U Sleeping won well at Naas recently and is more interesting than most.
The handicaps are tough as usual and the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Sovereign Path Handicap (2:50) is another example of what races around this trip are becoming, full of exposed types but lacking those with potential.
Gleneagle Bay has obvious claims but is going up in the weights without winning and is nine pounds higher than he was when finishing second in the race last year, so a chance is taken on the older I AM SUPERMAN.
He has run over a variety of trips this season but is a seven-furlong specialist, six of his eight wins coming over that trip. His sole run over the distance this season came in a premier handicap at Cork in June when he shaped very well in fifth, doing best of those drawn low in a race where high numbers dominated.
That was followed by a fine run over a mile at the Curragh on Derby weekend when he pressed the lead a furlong out only not to get home. He had a break after that, missing a possible target race at Galway which might not be his track, before reasonable prep run last time in the Irish Cambridgeshire.
This looks a suitable race for him and his wide draw could prove a positive, horses drawn low have struggled in both handicaps on his card in recent years, and soft ground at Leopardstown often seems horses coming wide.
In the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Petingo Handicap (6:05), Helvic Dream is of some interest. His Galway Hurdle disqualification was much discussed, but he did really well to go as close as he did then, hampered early and coming from rear in a race dominated by those ridden forward.
The application of a tongue-tie late in his career has sparked him to life and while his recent good runs have come on decent ground, he has always been one that enjoyed a testing surface and he has no lack of back class being a Group 1 winner in the past.
He sometimes finds it hard to win but looks a decent each-way contender for this race.
Preview posted at 0900 on 13/09/2025
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