Magical gets chance to shine

With Enable away, it’s Magical’s turn to play.

In her last two starts, Magical has run into Enable, the best horse in the world, but Saturday at Leopardstown it’s Magical who is the best horse in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes (post time 11:15 a.m. Eastern).

Trained by Aidan O’Brien for Coolmore and ridden by Ryan Moore, Magical will be close to an odds-on favorite in North American pari-mutuel wagering Saturday on the Irish Champion, a left-handed race over about 10 furlongs to be contested over a course that as of Thursday was rated good. The Irish Champion distance and course condition is fine for Magical, but the 4-year-old filly did run below her par in her lone Leopardstown race, the Matron Stakes on this program one year ago.

Enable beat Magical by threequarters of a length last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Turf but the gap between the two has grown wider this summer, Enable giving Magical a 2 3/4-length thumping last out in the Yorkshire Oaks.

Though she’s only four for her last eight, Magical has only lost to Enable and the elite Crystal Ocean since finishing 10th last fall in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and the automatic fees-paid berth plus travel expenses to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at stake here through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In series is something Magical’s connections might well take up.

Antepost betting has two much lesser-known horses, Elarqam and Headman, as the co-second choices in the Irish Champion. Elarqam, a 4-yearold Frankel colt, has come around strongly this year for trainer Mark Johnston and after winning the York Stakes in July was a fine third in Japan’s Juddmonte International last month.

Three-year-old Headman is based in England with trainer Roger Charlton but has made a mark this summer in France, where he’s won a pair of Group 2s over 10 furlongs in his two most recent starts. The more recent of those came on very soft ground that Headman probably more tolerated than enjoyed.

Three more bear consideration as well. Anthony Van Dyck won the Derby at Epsom for Coolmore and O’Brien but subsequently was upset in the Irish Derby and showed little in his most recent start, finishing 10th in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, where Enable won a thriller over Crystal Ocean. Madhmoon was second in the Derby, also regressed in the Irish Derby finishing fourth, but bounced back to some extent winning the Desmond in a Leopardstown prep for the Irish Champion. Deirdre, a Japanese horse spending the summer in Europe, scored a satisfying win in the Group 1 Nassau over fillies and mares in her most recent start, while Magic Wand has run all her top races this year in America.

Laurens, Hermosa top Matron

Laurens, who won the race a year ago, is the favorite to win the Group 1 Matron Stakes over one mile for older fillies and mares, the supporting feature in the Irish Champion card.

In the 2018 Matron, Laurens upset Alpha Centauri, who was injured during the running, one of four Group 1 victories last season for Laurens. Now a 4-year-old, Laurens turned in a modest run finishing sixth in the Group 1 Queen Anne at Royal Ascot but otherwise has put together another solid season, winning the Group 1 Prix Rothschild over a straight mile at Deauville. Laurens’s camp could have designs on a Breeders’ Cup race at the end of this season.

Three-year-old Hermosa won the English and Irish 1000 Guineas earlier this year but comes off a disappointing performance in the Nassau, where she was last of nine.

I Can Fly, whose trainer, William Haggas, has live horses at Woodbine on Saturday, also rates a solid chance.

◗ Eight 2-year-olds, including three for Aidan O’Brien, are entered in the one-mile KPMG Champions Stakes, a BC Challenge Win and You’re In for the BC Juvenile Turf. The best of the O’Brien trio – or, at least, the one ridden by top stable jockey Ryan Moore – might be Mogul, a sharp maiden winner last out at The Curragh.