A €3.7 million 'Champions Weekend' initiative designed to boost Irish racing's profile surged to 'PR' nirvana at the Curragh when Brown Panther carried the colours of legendary England footballer Michael Owen to a classic success that once again highlighted the tactical nuances involved in the supposedly straight-forward job of getting a horse from A to B as quickly as possible.
Less than twenty four hours after Joseph O'Brien's QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes nightmare aboard Australia at Leopardstown, the champion jockey again had to settle for the runner-up spot in the 100th Palmerstown House Irish St Leger at the Curragh as the odds-on Leading Light could never get close enough to land a blow on Brown Panther.
Controversy was inevitable after Australia’s defeat by The Grey Gatsby, and subsequent confirmation that O’Brien weighed in 1lb overweight, but the fall-out from Brown Panther’s Leger rout was much more straightforward in comparison.
If the intention was for Leading Light’s stable-companion Eye Of The Storm to guarantee a pace for the 9-10 favourite, then Richard Kingscote’s decision to sit Brown Panther just off him, clear of the rest of the field, proved a masterstroke. Once he kicked clear in the straight, pursuit of the 14-1 English-based winner always looked futile.
In front of a Curragh crowd of almost 11,000, more than twice the tally for the 2013 Leger, Owen’s joy at a first Group 1 success was palpable, although he tried to deflect attention to Kingscote and Cheshire trainer Tom Dascombe. “It means so much,” the former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester United striker, admitted, a sentiment probably echoed by those in charge of the entire ‘Champions Weekend’ project.
Saturday’s 13,190 Leopardstown crowd was up fifty per cent on the 2013 Champions Day crowd, and featured a seventy eight per cent surge in Tote betting alone to €795,510. The Curragh’s Tote tally of €684,664 was a huge increase on last year’s €296,108. Bookmaker turnover was up by a third on Saturday to €891,631.
And on a weekend of unusually beatific weather, any fears the event might turn into a simple Coolmore Stud benefit were dashed with five of yesterday’s eight races won by cross-channel trained horses. Overall the visitors won half of all the weekend contests. Owen beaming for the cameras provided a perfect marketing cherry on top.
"The concept is right and we have plenty to build on. The atmosphere both days has been fantastic," said Horse Racing Ireland's chief-executive Brian Kavanagh. "We won't rest on our laurels. This is a long-term project. But it looks to have been accepted, both here, and internationally, very quickly."
Ultimately Gleneagles provided a single Group 1 victory for the all-conquering Ballydoyle team in the Goffs National Stakes but as a balm for Australia’s defeat it didn’t look to provide much comfort.
“I went very wide and plenty of things went wrong for me,” Joseph O’Brien admitted about his Australia ride. “It would be great if we could ride every race again, but we can’t. Hindsight’s a great thing. We live and learn, and it won’t happen again.”
Gleneagles is a colt to look forward to however and earned 14-1 quotes for both next year’s 2,000 Guineas and Derby after a workmanlike defeat of Toscanini. Colm O’Donoghue was on board Ballydoyle’s Adjusted who took the concluding handicap.
The €6 million Chicquita, the most expensive horse ever sold at auction in Ireland, returned to action in the Blandford Stakes and although running on well couldn’t get to grips with the impressive Tarfasha.
"The Prix de l'Opera is an option for her, and so is the Breeders Cup filly & mare," said Dermot Weld who might have missed out on a Group 1 but nevertheless enjoyed a weekend which revealed Free Eagle's top-class potential. "This is her right trip. She was second in the Epsom Oaks but she was running out of stamina at the line."
Cursory Glance looks another classic contender after putting the seal on a landmark weekend for Newmarket trainer Roger Varian in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. A day previously, Kingston Hill provided Varian with a first class in the Doncaster St Leger and he conceded: "It's a pinch-myself weekend."
He wasn’t alone in that sentiment.
