PAT LUCK PAYS OFF
Leger triumph would cap it all for Cosgrave
IF jockey Pat Cosgrave lands the Ladbrokes St Leger he will be able to thank his lucky stars in more ways than one. His mount, the William Haggastrained Storm The Stars, has already carried Cosgrave to third place behind Golden Horn on his first ride in the Derby and second to Jack Hobbs in the Irish equivalent.
Cosgrave rides in the £700,000 final Classic of the season at Doncaster for the first time and teaming up with Storm The Stars is an illustration of a positive arising out of a big negative.
Cosgrave might never have at t e mpted, a nd succeeded, to establish a link with the Haggas stable had it not been for a contentious four-month ban i mposed l ast year f or ‘improper riding’ during one of his stints in Dubai.
It was a suspension the BHA refused to reciprocate, l eaving the 33- year- old Irishman free to ride in Britain.
Even then, in March, having just got his foot i n the door with Haggas, Cosgrave broke his right leg in a fall. Cosgrave said: ‘Racing is such a strange game. It is swings and roundabouts.
‘Things change very quickly and you just have to keep mentally strong. I had the drama in Dubai 18 months ago and wasn’t able to go back. I just decided to make the best of a bad situation. Sometimes things happen for a reason.
‘When I broke my leg I did not take it very well. It was just before the [Turf] season started and I had j ust started ri ding work f or William. It does not matter how good a jockey you are, you have to get on the good horses to get on the big winners.’
Most important of those good horses has been Storm The Stars, half-length conqueror of Bondi Beach, one of today’s rivals, in the mile-and-a-half Great Voltigeur Stakes at York.
Afterwards, Haggas compared the colt’s temperament to that of a punk rocker.
Cosgrave said: ‘ He has his own mind. He has bumped into some very good horses but been good all the way.
‘The Great Voltigeur was very good. I felt he was getting better the further he went so I can’t see the longer trip being an issue.’
Cosgrave was Ireland’s champion apprentice in 2003 when working for Aidan O’Brien, who has reduced his Leger challenge to two by diverting Order of St George to tomorrow’s Irish Leger at the Curragh, for which stablemate Kingfisher has also been declared.
That leaves seven runners for the Doncaster Classic.
Even though significant rain is forecast overnight at Doncaster, as it is even more so in Ireland ahead of today’s Irish Champion Stakes, it was felt the ground would be more suitable at the Curragh for the colt.
A stalwart of O’Brien’s operation, Colm O’Donoghue, has switched from Order of St George to Bondi Beach, leaving his intended rider William Buick without a mount.