AIDAN’S TEAM FIT AGAIN AND RIGHT ON KEW

AIDAN O’BRIEN is confident that victory for warm favourite Kew Gardens in the William Hill St Leger on Saturday would ignite a stuttering campaign and produce a clutch of big-race successes in the final months of the season. A mid-season virus denied a number of O’Brien’s string the chance to reach their full potential this summer, with the likes of 2,000 Guineas hero Saxon Warrior waylaid by a well-documented bug which swept through Ballydoyle. However, the master Irish trainer believes his string are now returning to full capacity and a dual assault on the English and Irish Legers next weekend represents stage one of an ambitious bid for some of the world’s premier prizes in the final quarter of the year. Kew Gardens is one of a quartet, along with Southern France, The Pentagon and Nelson, which could head to Town Moor, and the likes of Saxon Warrior (Irish Champion Stakes), Capri (L’Arc de Triomphe), US Navy Flag (The Everest), Ten Sovereigns (Middle Park Stakes) and Mendelssohn (Breeders’ Cup Classic) are also set to tackle major assignments. O’Brien said: ‘The horses are healthier now and we have been pleased with their comeback runs. Kew Gardens is the one to focus on for the Leger.’ O’Brien also issued upbeat bulletins on the progress of fellow St Leger hope Southern France who has ‘stepped forward significantly for his recent Curragh run’, and Saxon Warrior is also recovering well having been one of the worst hit by the virus.