Sporting Advent Calendar #14: Golden Horn wins Irish champion stakes

Fears the late defection of Gleneagles from September's QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes might impact on the drama quota within the 'Irish Champions Weekend' feature were groundless. Aidan O'Brien's colt had missed three previous Group 1 races due to conditions being judged too slow so officially "yielding" ground was never going to tempt the trainer into running.

Nevertheless official determination to allow those lining up get first go of the Leopardstown ground did result in bruised Anglo-Irish feelings as the programme reshuffle meant Frankie Dettori and Ryan Moore couldn't make a quick chopper ride from Doncaster's St Leger to Dublin in time to also take in the Champion Stakes.

The team around Qatar Racing’s Sheikh Fahad, sponsor of the Leopardstown race after all, weren’t happy, complaining of a lack of consultation. The Sheikh’s mood was hardly helped by his horse Simple Verse losing the Leger to Coolmore’s Bondi Beach in the steward’s room and his own dash across the Irish Sea meant he only just made it in time to present the prize to Golden Horn’s connections.

Ultimately Simple Verse got the Leger back on appeal and bruised sponsor feelings have presumably got smoothed over so that what will be remembered long term is the drama on the track where Golden Horn - undisputedly Europe’s Horse of the Year in 2015 - won on his own sole start in Ireland.

Typically of the event, though, it wasn’t straight-forward. Golden Horn veered right in the closing stages, colliding with Free Eagle who had his chance ruined. That Free Eagle slipped to third, allowing Found to nab second, meant the stewards escaped having to make a controversial decision.

The weather also had an impact on the following day’s Curragh leg of Irish racing’s international shop-window event so attendance levels over the weekend remained static on 2014 levels. But at the end of it all, so much had gone on that Gleneagles’ absence had become almost an after-thought.