English racing’s rising star Economics will venture into Aidan O’Brien’s backyard to contest Group One company for the first time when lining up for Saturday’s Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.
The scale of the challenge facing the William Haggas-trained star is underlined by how O’Brien is chasing a ‘Lucky 13th’ victory in the €1.25 million feature of this weekend’s Irish Champions Festival, and a sixth in a row.
His last two Champion Stakes winners, Auguste Rodin and Luxembourg, will be joined in the race this time by this season’s Irish Derby hero Los Angeles.
Ireland’s dominant trainer has been more successful in only two other Group One races on the calendar. The Phoenix Stakes for two-year-olds has fallen to him 17 times while he has 16 Irish Derby successes under his belt.
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In all-aged terms, though, Leopardstown’s highest rated contest has been a notably happy hunting ground.
Ryan Moore is set to team up again with Auguste Rodin and the English jockey’s own race record is exceptional with four wins in the last five years.
In contrast, the Economics team of Haggas and jockey Tom Marquand are trying to break new ground, admittedly with a colt acclaimed as “truly special” by those who finished behind him on his last start at Deauville.
Betting on Saturday’s highlight appears to echo that view as Economics was initially installed an 11-10 favourite after a dozen horses were left in the Champion following Tuesday’s latest acceptance stage.
Such claims will be put to the test against the depth of the Ballydoyle squad, as well as the Japanese star Shin Emperor. A trio of French-trained runners, including Facteur Cheval and Metropolitan, were left in, although are not likely to travel.
Shin Emperor represents perhaps an even greater unknown factor in the Champion Stakes, which he is taking in en route to an attempt at breaking Japan’s duck in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe next month.
Nevertheless, his trainer Yoshito Yahagi has been keen to underline the importance of Saturday’s Leopardstown race, telling Japanese media: “It’s unfair to call this a prep race. The Arc may get special attention in Japan, but in Europe, the Irish Champion Stakes is a very important race. Honestly, a horse that wins here has more stallion value than an Arc winner.
“The distances are different – 2,000 metres versus 2,400 metres – but in a way, this is a championship race. This year’s competition is incredibly strong, stronger than the Arc in my opinion.
“Personally, I’m really interested in Economics. Of course, Aidan O’Brien’s three horses are top class as well.”
Another cross-channel runner in the mix for the Champion Stakes is Royal Rhyme, whose trainer Karl Burke could be a major player during the weekend action which features half a dozen Group One contests among 17 races spread between Leopardstown and the Curragh.
Burke’s Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Fallen Angel is set to have her first start for new owners Wathnan Racing in Saturday’s Coolmore Matron Stakes, where she will clash with Porta Fortuna.
Burke has also left in Al Qareem in the Curragh’s second-day festival feature, the €600,000 Comer Group International Irish St Leger.
O’Brien’s 2022 winner Kyprios is a standout candidate, and an odds-on favourite, after 10 were left in on Tuesday. His stable companion Continuous also holds a Champion Stakes entry, while Willie Mullins may try to emulate Wicklow Brave’s 2016 success in the race with Vauban.
A pair of German runners, Waldadler and Nastaria, are also set to line up.
The leading English sprinter Bradsell tops 20 horses left in the Bar One Flying Five, Ireland’s sole top-flight sprint, although it could prove to be very much a home party in both of Sunday’s Group One contests for juveniles.
Only for the Ollie Sangster-trained Simmering being supplemented into the Moyglare, the prospect was of Ger Lyons’s Red Letter being Ballydoyle’s sole opponent in Ireland’s premier race for two-year-old fillies.
Like the Moyglare favourite Bedtime Story, O’Brien’s Henri Matisse is unbeaten ahead of the Goffs National Stakes.
Rather than running Ancient Truth, the Godolphin team will take him on with Aomori City, who was supplemented into the €400,000 contest. The Oasis Dream colt landed the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood on his last start.
