Dual Group 1 winner Magical heads the entries for the Group
2 Moyglare “Jewels” Blandford Stakes on the second day of Longines Irish
Champions Weekend next month.
Released this afternoon, the entries for the main supporting
races to the six Group 1 events at Leopardstown on Saturday, September 14 and
the Curragh on Sunday, September 15 are as strong as ever from home and abroad.
Runner-up to the brilliant Enable in the Group 1 Coral-Eclipse
at Sandown last month, Magical would be bidding for her fourth win of the
season having already won at Naas and twice at the Curragh where she won her
second Group 1 race in the Tattersalls Gold Cup in May. Last season, she won the
Group 1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot in October
before pushing Enable all the way in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at
Churchill Downs.
Her trainer Aidan O'Brien has Fleeting, placed in both the
Oaks at Epsom and at the Curragh, and I Can Fly among his entries while Joseph
O'Brien has Iridessa, a two-time winner at Group 1 level and the recent Group 2
winner Red Tea in the race.
Jean-Claude Rouget has entered Commes, runner-up in both the
Emirates Poule d'Essai des Pouliches at Longchamp and the Prix de Diane
Longines at Chantilly, while John Hammond has entered Nisreen. Dermot Weld could bid to add to his
remarkable recent record in the race with his Kerrygold Irish Oaks fourth
Search For A Song. Successful with Eziyra last year, Weld has won four of the
last five renewals of the race.
The entries for the Group 2 Clipper Logistics Boomerang
Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday, September 14 are headed by last season’s Tattersalls
Irish 2,000 Guineas hero Romanised which got back to winning ways at the
Curragh last month. Ken Condon’s star beat the James Tate-trained Hey Gaman to
win the Group 2 Paddy Power Minstrel Stakes and the pair could clash again. The
latter went on finish second in the Group 2 Qatar Lennox Stakes at Goodwood
where Suedois was third. He won this race for David O’Meara in 2017.
Epsom Derby runner-up Madhmoon has been given an entry by
Kevin Prendergast and also in the early line-up is the Michael Halford-trained
Surrounding which continues on an upward curve and was among the winners at last
week’s Galway festival, her third Stakes success of the season.
Halford has put the unbeaten Roman Turbo in the Group 2 KPMG
Champions Juvenile Stakes. Already twice a winner at the Curragh, he landed the
Group 3 Jebel Ali Racecourse & Stables Anglesey Stakes last month and among
his rivals could be the Charlie Appleby-trained Al Dabaran, also a winner on
his two starts to date. Aidan O'Brien is well represented in the eight-furlong
contest and among his entries are Royal Lytham which landed the Group 2 Tattersalls
July Stakes at Newmarket. O’Brien could also be represented by Innisfree which
just got the better of the Dermot Weld-trained Shekhem, a possible rival again,
at Galway last week. Other notable entries include the Joseph O'Brien-trained
Vitalogy and Ger Lyons’ Justifier, both winners on their only starts so far.
The Aidan O'Brien-trained Broome and Sir Dragonet, just
edged out when fourth and fifth respectively in the Epsom Derby, top the
entries for the Group 3 Kilternan Stakes in which Lancaster House, another
Ballydoyle inmate, is an intriguing entry after his runaway maiden success at
Galway. Jim Bolger’s Twilight Payment, winner of the Saval Beg Levmoss Stakes
and the Group 2 Comer Group International Curragh Cup on his last two starts
could also make his mark if dropping back in trip while Dermot Weld’s Broad
Street and Joseph O'Brien’s Buckhurst are among other notable entries.
Pat Keogh, CEO of Leopardstown Racecourse and CEO of the
Curragh Racecourse, said: “After hugely promising entries for the Group 1 races
at Longines Irish Champions Weekend, it is equally as satisfying to see strong
preliminary entries for the supporting races over the two days. It’s all about quality racing at Leopardstown
and the Curragh, and we can look forward to a huge weekend once again next
month.”