Breeders’ Cup berths at stake

There are three Group 1 races and two Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In races Sunday at the Curragh in Ireland, but the only race included in both categories is the Moyglare Stud Stakes.

The Group 1 Moyglare Stud is for 2-year-old fillies at seven furlongs. The winner gets an automatic fees-paid entry into the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf as well as travel expenses to Del Mar.

The Flying Five Stakes over five furlongs is a Win and You’re In for the BC Turf Sprint, which will be contested at that same distance this year.

The two other Group 1’s carded are the Vincent O’Brien National Stakes for 2-year-olds at seven furlongs, and the Irish St. Leger for 3-year-olds and older at 1 3/4 miles.

Rainy late-week weather has softened the course at the Curragh, which on Friday was officially listed as yielding to soft.

Intricately won the Moyglare Stud last season for trainer Joseph O’Brien and did indeed show up for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, finishing 12th at Santa Anita.

Joseph is not one of the two O’Briens involved in the Moyglare Stud this year. His father, Aidan, sends out half the 10 fillies entered, while brother Donnacha rides Magical, the race’s favorite. Magical finished second in her debut but since has won two races, including a front-running course-and-distance victory Aug. 20 in the Group 2 Debutante.

Magical, a full sister to the Group 1-winning 3-year-old filly Rhododendron, was an 11-1 chance in the Debutante and was hand-ridden to a 1 1/4length victory over stablemate Happily. Happily was heavily favored when the two met last time, but was priced at about 4-1 by British bookmakers in the Moyglare Stud as of Friday, and might prefer drier ground than she’ll encounter.

Also receiving support are Alpha Centauri, the Niarchos family filly who finished a close second of 20 when last seen in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, and September, another O’Brien charge.

O’Brien also has the favorite for the Flying Five in Caravaggio, who was being hailed as a star in June but brings a two-racing losing streak into Sunday’s test. Caravaggio was fourth in the July Stakes and sixth in the Prix Maurice de Gheest despite being odds-on in both races, but he has shown excellent form over soft ground.

Order of St George – also trained by O’Brien – is odds-on for the Irish St. Leger, a race he won by 11 lengths in 2015, but in which he was upset last year by Wicklow Brave, who is back for another go Sunday, albeit as a 20-1 chance. Torcedor and Dartmouth are seen as Order of St George’s biggest threats, though Order of St George goes so well on soft ground he appears a very, very likely winner.

Finally, it should be less than shocking to find O’Brien trains the odds-on early favorite for the National Stakes, Gustav Klimt, who won the July 15 Superlative at Newmarket in his most recent start. There are eight entrants in the National; O’Brien trains four of them.