Aidan O’Brien still dominates the entries for the St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday with three of the eight possible runners in the final Classic after the five-day stage on Monday, and three of the first four in the betting. The news about O’Brien’s possible riding arrangements this weekend could prove to be equally significant, however, as Joseph O’Brien, the trainer’s son, is pencilled in for Irish Champions Day at Leopardstown, where Gleneagles, the 2,000 Guineas winner, could finally line up for a much-anticipated meeting with the Derby winner, Golden Horn.
Gleneagles was taken out of the International Stakes at York in August, in which Golden Horn lost his unbeaten record behind the 50-1 chance Arabian Queen, just a few hours before the race after O’Brien decided that heavy rain had turned the going against him. The forecast is unsettled for Leopardstown later this week, too, but Gleneagles is currently a 4-1 chance to win the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday in a market headed by Golden Horn at 2-1.
“I’m not sure Joseph will ride any of them,” O’Brien told a media event to launch Leger week on Monday. “It’s possible that he will stay at Leopardstown, it’s a big day that day. Joseph can do nine stone so it’s possible, but we’ll probably get over tomorrow and Wednesday first before we really decide what we want to do with the horses.
“Gleneagles is the main one [on the card] but we’ve also got two-year-olds and a Group Three at a mile and a half, it’s a big card. Colm [O’Donoghue] and Seamus [Heffernan] are there at Doncaster, I think we’ll be fine like that. Seamus has won on both Order Of St George [the joint-favourite] and Bondi Beach [the runner-up in the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York]. There’s not many runners there [for Ballydoyle] so we should be fine.”
Should Gleneagles line up for the Irish Champion Stakes with Joseph O’Brien in the saddle, it could also help to end speculation about the position of both the jockey and his father at Ballydoyle.
Some speculation in recent weeks has implied that at least one member of the three-strong Coolmore syndicate - John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith - does not fully support the regular booking of Joseph O’Brien in the continuing absence of Ryan Moore, who replaced O’Brien as the stable’s main jockey at the start of this season.
There were also persistent rumours before the Ebor meeting at York in mid-August that the tensions could see Aidan O’Brien depart Ballydoyle, but a high-profile ride for his son on this season’s best three-year-old could suggest that the trainer has held his ground and retains the confidence of Magnier, the syndicate’s senior partner.
Without the entry from O’Brien’s stable, the Leger field would look thin, not least when set against the field of proven Group One horses set to line up in Ireland, but fortunately for Doncaster, it is a rare season when Ballydoyle does not have a Galileo colt or three to aim at Doncaster.
All of O’Brien’s Leger runners will be stepping up to Group One company for the first time, while Storm The Stars, third home in the Derby, is the only Leger entry with a Group Two success, or previous Group One experience.
The small entry after Monday’s five-day stage ensures that the St Leger will have a single-figure field for the fourth time in the last seven years. The race received a boost, however, when Ralph Beckett’s filly Simple Verse, the winner of the Group Three Lillie Langtry Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, was supplemented at a cost of £50,000.
Ladbrokes, which extended its long-standing sponsorship of the St Leger for another two years after the 2014 renewal, make Order Of St George and Storm The Stars their joint-favourites for the race at 9-4, with Bondi Beach next in the list at 3-1.
Fields of Athenry, last seen carrying a big weight into fifth place in the Ebor Handicap, is an 8-1 chance, with Simple Verse at 12-1, while Mikel Delzangles, who took the 2010 2,000 Guineas with Makfi, sends the 25-1 outsider Vengeur Masque. The possible field is completed by the 33-1 outsiders Medrano and Proposed, trained by David Brown and Richard Hannon respectively.
The two-year extension to the bookmaker’s contract meant that the issue of future sponsorship for the Classic was mentioned only briefly at a media event to launch Leger week on Monday. At the same event next year, however, speculation will doubtless be swirling once again, as Ladbrokes – which may by then have merged with Coral – pauses to assess whether its significant contribution to the Classic represents value for money.
A competitive renewal on Saturday with eight runners to ensure three places for each-way punters would be a start, while Storm The Stars, the only runner to have previously lined up for an English Classic, would be the second Leger winner in a row to have made the frame in the Derby at Epsom.
“He’s not the easiest at home as has been quite well documented,” Maureen Haggas, the wife of Storm The Stars’ trainer William, said on Monday, “but he gives it all on the track, you have to give him that.
“He’s just tough. We don’t really do much with him at home because he doesn’t like going to the gallops. We kept running him to make him more professional and to bring him on.
“Hopefully [the extended trip] will improve him but you never really know until you go and do it. The signs are that he should be a better horse over a bit further, but it’s the end of a long hard year and he doesn’t really owe us anything. If we can get one more good run out of his this year, that would be great.”
Ralph Beckett, the trainer of Simple Verse, said on Monday that it made sense to supplement his Goodwood winner for the Classic, which has not been won by a filly since User Friendly’s success in 1992. Beckett has already sent two Oaks winners – Look Here and Talent – to the Leger without success, but feels Simple Verse deserves her place in the field.
“Once we established that she was in good nick, it seems like the obvious thing to do,” Beckett said. “She did a good piece of work nine days ago, we were very pleased with that. We certainly haven’t trialled her at home but she’s developed physically, she’s come forward for both of her recent wins.
“She came forward from [a handicap win at] Salisbury and she has from Goodwood. She’s not ground-dependent either, she’s won on fast and slow ground, she’s progressive and a certain stayer so it seemed like the right thing to do.
“I felt that Look Here didn’t stay [in 2008]. Talent I thought ran probably to the same level as she had when she won the Oaks, but they had both had troubled preps. This filly is going forward and we haven’t had a blip with her.”
Vengeur Masque, the only French-trained runner in the field, is a big price to become the first Leger winner from across the Channel since Toulon in 1991 but his trainer hopes that the 14-furlong trip will bring the best from his colt, who finished fourth of eight in a Group Three contest at Deauville on his most recent start.
“He didn’t prove it yet [that he is Classic quality] but he is improving all the time,” Delzangles said. “We had some issues with him at the beginning of the season, he bruised a foot and was quite late [to make his seasonal debut], but he seems to be coming on very well.
“I think the longer distance will suit him. His last run wasn’t as good as I’d hoped but he’s really improved since then. It was a real, true French race with a sprint for two furlongs [at the end], which is really what I don’t want with him. He’s always shown a lot in the morning, and I think he’ll be very happy with the trip and the kind of races you have in England.”
