The French have yet to make a significant mark on Irish Champions Weekend but their top trainer Jean Claude Rouget will try and change that with some of his Group One stars at Leopardstown in a fortnight.
Tomorrow the Curragh has its final meeting before hosting Day Two of the third edition of Irish racing’s €4.5 million shop-window to the world which has prioritised an international element to the action.
British-trained horses have won four of the ten Group One races run over 2014 and 2015, including both renewals of the QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes.
However Cladocera’s second to Legatissimo in last year’s Coolmore Matron Stakes is the best top-flight result for the French so far, reflective of a relatively low dividend for Gallic raiders on Ireland’s top races generally since around 2000.
There have been just five French-trained Group One winners since, the last of which was Chicquita’s Irish Oaks success at the Curragh in 2013.
Rouget has yet to score in Ireland but France's top trainer of 2016 is targeting Champions Weekend with a vengeance and will provide a vital international element to the fixture.
The intended raid by the Prix du Jockey Club winner Almanzor can allow a potential Champion Stakes clash with Harzand to be billed as a clash of the Derby winners, similar to 2014 when The Great Gatsby dramatically edged out Australia.
Qemah missed out on classic glory during the Spring behind her stable companion La Cressonniere in the French Guineas but has looked brilliant in winning both the Coronation Stakes and the Prix Rothschild since. She could yet take on Aidan O'Brien's superstar filly Minding in the Matron.
The Aga Khan’s Group One heroine Ervedya is as low as 10-1 in some ante-post lists for the Matron too while Rouget also has a number of other entries over the weekend, including both Taaref and Ghaaly in the Group Two Clipper Boomerang Stakes.
Almanzor is a 5-1 second favourite behind Harzand in some Champion Stakes lists but will bring the benefit of a recent Group Two Deauville success which followed his surprise French Derby win in June.
“Everything has gone very well after Deauville. We hope to keep him very well and send him to Ireland,” said a spokesman for Almanzor’s owner.
Seven runners
If Rouget is set to provide a valuable international element, then Aidan O’Brien’s record of four Group One Champions Weekend victories indicates how the champion trainer will lead the home defence.
O'Brien has seven runners at the Curragh on Sunday and Intelligence Cross, who holds an entry in the Goffs National Stakes, is likely to prove tough to beat in the Group Three Round Tower Stakes. His Goodwood form last time was significantly boosted by Blue Point in the Gimcrack at York.
John Oxx's Moyglare entry, Sea Of Grace will be of interest to many punters in the Flame Of Tara Stakes. Group One ambitions for the filly don't look off the mark considering how the horse she beat at Tipperary over a month ago, Eziyra, subsequently won at Galway.
The pair clash again on Sunday and the way their form has been boosted by Hydrangea this Group Three could result in another head-to-head test.
The Godolphin team want good ground conditions for Skiffle in the Snow Fairy Stakes, a race that looks a good option for Adool. Dermot Weld's filly won a Listed race at Gowran on just her third start and further improvement is expected.
