Roaring Lion the horse to beat in Irish Champion Stakes

Roaring Lion will be heavily favored to add the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday at Leopardstown Racecourse to his already considerable seasonal haul.

Three-year-old Roaring Lion has come around beautifully for trainer John Gosden this season and enters the Irish Champion following a narrow win over Saxon Warrior on July 7 in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes and a pasting of the toplevel winner Poet’s Word in the Group 1 Juddmonte International on Aug. 22 at York.

Those two races, the best Roaring Lion has run, were contested at or about 1 1/4 miles, as is the Irish Champion. Roaring Lion might slightly struggle to keep up with the quickest, most athletic milers, and he finished third – solid but unspectacular – in his lone 1 1/2-mile start, the Epsom Derby. The Irish Champion is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race, offering the winner a fees-paid entry into the BC Turf plus travel expenses to Churchill Downs this fall, but one wonders if Roaring Lion’s seasonal finale might come in the Champion Stakes at Ascot, another 1 1/4-mile race, rather than the 1 1/2-mile BC Turf.

As for Saturday’s task, Roaring Lion will have regular rider (and rising star) Oisin Murphy in the saddle while racing over expected good-to-firm going, which is just fine by Roaring Lion.

Two sons of the Japanese stallion Deep Impact are the only other horses priced at singledigits in early wagering. Saxon Warrior, who was fourth by five lengths in the International, will try Roaring Lion again, while French Derby winner Study of Man will tackle him for the first time.

Study of Man is the race’s most intriguing entrant, with plenty of upside for the Niarchos family and trainer Pascal Bary. Study of Man finished a modest third at the Group 3 level in his first start following his French Derby win over soft ground, but that recent race surely was only a steppingstone back to Group 1 competition.

Still, the Niarchos’s big horse on the day, Alpha Centauri, runs in the Group 1 Matron Stakes earlier on the card. Alpha Centauri, a massive gray 3-year-old filly, has burned forth as a star miler this season, perhaps the most charismatic horse in Europe.

The one-mile Matron is open to older fillies and mares, but only 3-year-old fillies entered, and at level weights, and over good-to-firm going at one mile, Alpha Centauri will be very, very difficult to beat. Since flopping over heavy ground at Leopardstown to start her campaign, Alpha Centauri has reeled off four straight mile wins at the Group 1 level while racing at The Curragh, Ascot, Newmarket, and most recently Deauville. The Matron is a BC Challenge race linked to the Filly and Mare Turf, but it’s the BC Mile on which Alpha Centauri, who is trained by Jessica Harrington, has designs.

Madhmoon, a sharp course-and-distance winner on Aug. 16 for Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum and trainer Kevin Prendergast, is the early favorite in the one-mile Juvenile Stakes. Broome and Mssaff also have been well supported in this 2-year-old stakes, which is a BC Challenge race linked to the Juvenile Turf.

Lah Ti Dar vs. Kew Gardens

Aidan O’Brien has five entrants in the Group 1 St. Leger Stakes on Saturday at Doncaster, the relatively forgotten final leg of the English Triple Crown. But he very well might not have the winner.

Lah Ti Dar, who had been considered for the Prix Vermeille in France on Sunday, was entered Thursday in the St. Leger and immediately challenged Kew Gardens for race favoritism. Trained by John Gosden for Andrew LloydWeber, and by Dubawi out of Lloyd-Weber’s excellent mare Dar Re Mi, Lah Ti Dar was the early Epsom Oaks favorite this year before injury interrupted her season in May. She returned to action Aug. 23 at York and won the listed Galtres Stakes over 1 1/2 miles by 10 lengths. Lah Ti Dar stands a good chance of staying the one mile and 6 1/2 furlongs of the St. Leger while getting three pounds from her male counterparts.

Kew Gardens has been a St. Leger favorite since capturing the 1 3/4-mile Queen’s Vase Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 20 and got in a useful prep race Aug. 22 at York, finishing third while facing older horses in the Great Voltigeur Stakes over 1 1/2 miles.

Also on the card is an important 2-year-old race, the Group 2 Champagne over a straight seven furlongs. The scorching hot favorite here is Too Darn Hot, who is Lah Ti Dar’s stablemate and full brother. Too Darn Hot has started his career with two crushing wins at Sandown, the first in maiden company and most recent in the Group 3 Solario Stakes.