Knight’s a Brit of alright
25/1 CHAMPION SHOCKER LEADS RAIDERS’ 1-2-3
DECORATED KNIGHT charged from last to first to pull off a 25-1 shock and spearhead a 1-2-3 for the British raiders in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.
The Roger Charltontrained five-year-old was ignored by backers, despite success on his previous two forays across the Irish Sea – including in the toplevel Tattersalls Gold Cup at The Curragh in May.
Andrea Atzeni’s mount looked in trouble at the rear of the 10-runner field on the turn for home, but challenged down the outside to hold Poet’s Word by half a length, with Eminent — on whom Frankie Dettori had cut out the early running — back in third.
Aidan O’brien’s dual 2,000 Guineas hero Churchill, a heavily supported 8-11 favourite to return to winning form after defeats at Royal Ascot and York, challenged in the straight but faded into seventh inside the final furlong.
“Andrea said he knew he was going to win turning – I couldn’t believe it,” said Charlton. “There was nothing flukey about it.
“He’s produced an amazing turn of foot and ran right to the line.
“He’s been unlucky in his last couple of races. He’s tough, consistent and very sound, and he’s been on the go since March.
“He’s improved and improved. To keep going all season is a tribute to the horse. He does like Ireland. I like Ireland too.”
Charlton then confessed:
“I was half thinking this might be his last race, but I guess we’d look at the Champion Stakes at Ascot.”
Decorated Knight, who carries the colours of 2007 Derby hero Authorized, was cut from 25-1 to 8-1 for the October 21 test.
Punters were also out of luck in the Group 1 Coolmore Fastnet Rock Matron Stakes, won by O’brien’s Hydrangea. Not only was the winner, at 20-1, the least fancied of the four Ballydoyle runners in the fillies’ one-mile test — but her telling late thrust under Wayne Lordan took the prize from stablemate and evenmoney favourite Winter and Ryan Moore.
To compound the misery for ante-post backers of the market leader, O’brien had waited until Friday to divulge that Winter, winner of the Newmarket and Curragh 1,000 Guineas, Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, had suffered an injury after her triumph in West Sussex.
Asked whether he felt the setback had made the difference, O’brien, who could yet saddle Winter for the Prix de l’arc de Triomphe at Chantilly three weeks today, said: “I’d say it was – she was carrying a bit of a tummy, but needed to run.
“Ryan just said she took a blow on him. We thought she would, and that was the way it was.”
Hydrangea had been no match for Winter as the grey racked up her Group 1 sequence, and O’brien added: “Maybe when they turned in, Winter said to her: ‘Listen, you can have this one today’.”