Irish St. Leger at the Curragh

Obviously it is ridiculous to have the British and Irish St. Legers run the same day, but there´s nothing we can do about it. The Irish version will be run at 19.05 at the Curragh, and one big difference is that it is open to older horses, who have dominated in recent years. The only two 3yo´s in the field of 9 are owned by the Aga Khan - Hartani (John Oxx/ Christophe Lemaire) and Massiyn (Mike Halford/ Shane Foley).

They are both in good form, but we cannot quite see them beating the tough older horses. Three trainers try for the St. Leger double - Aidan O´Brien with Fame and Glory (Jamie Spencer), John Gosden with Aiken (Jimmy Fortune) and Tommy Carmody with Royal Diamond (Niall McCullagh). Fame and Glory is the best of these and would win it on his best form - he won the Irish Derby here in 2009 and took the Gold Cup last year, but he seems a bit inconsistent these days and was well beaten in this race last year and again at Royal Ascot last time. Aiken was fourth in the Hardwicke last time and had won his 6 previous races; however there must be a doubt about his staying this distance, over which he has never run before. We prefer the other Brtish runner Brown Panther (Tom Dascombe/ Richard Kingscote), runner-up at Doncaster last year, and like Hartani a son of Shirocco. Owner Michael Owen is unlikely to be present - he makes his debut for Stoke City today - but we think that Brown Pan ther can win this, especially if the ground stays on the soft side.

The other big race at the Curragh is the Group One National Stakes for 2yo´s over 7 furlongs at 19.40. Aidan O´Brien saddles 3 here and son Joseph will be flying over from Doncaster to partner Cristoforo Colombo, who fell here last time. However the one to beat is clearly Dwan Approach (Jim Bolger/ Kevin Manning), unbeaten in 4 starts and sold in the meantime to Sheikh Mohammed. Ayaar (Mick Channon/ Martin Harley) is an interesting runner, as he won nicely at Baden-Baden last time, but is facing much tougher opposition now. However he could run into a place.