Eminent looks just Champion
EMINENT rates a sporting play against favourite Churchill in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes (6.45) at Leopardstown.
Martyn Meade’s son of Frankel was no match for today’s rival when they met in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in May — Churchill won, with Eminent back in sixth — and further forays into the top tier ended in defeat when fourth in the Derby and fifth in the Coral-Eclipse.
But Eminent got back to winning ways with an impressive all-the-way score in the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano at Deauville on his latest start.
My selection is well worth another try against the best on that evidence, and Frankie Dettori will be anxious to put Churchill’s stamina — which looked suspect when he ran second in the Juddmonte International at York — to the test.
Churchill’s trainer Aidan O’Brien should take the Group 1 Coolmore Fastnet Rock Matron Stakes (5.35) with
After beating stablemate Rhododendron in the 1, 000 Guineas at Newmarket, the grey daughter of Galileo has won the Irish Guineas at the Curragh, Royal Ascot’s Coronation Stakes and the Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, and it will rank as a shock if Ryan Moore’s mount does not capture a fifth career Group 1. Fozzy Stack’s
gets the vote in the Group 2 Clipper Logistics Boomerang Stakes (6.10).
There was much to like about the way Chris Hayes’ mount captured the Group 3 Desmond Stakes over course and distance 23 days ago — and there is plenty more where that came from.