The Curragh overcame the elements just in time but Kayf Tara had a much less anxious experience overcoming just four opponents to take Saturday's Jefferson Smurfit Irish St Leger.

Last year's winner became the third horse this decade to land the Leger double and he did it with the minimum of fuss, running out eight lengths clear of Yavana's Pace with Silver Patriarch a further 11 lengths back in third.

The main Irish hope Enzeli was a disappointing fourth, leaving his trainer John Oxx to describe the performance as "terrible." Sunshine Street was a non-runner due to the ground.

It wasn't the ground that worried the Curragh management up to 75 minutes before the first race but there was serious concern about the wind.

Racing would not have been possible at 12.45 because of winds buffeting the track and manager Brian Kavanagh said: "We were worried about the wind but the Met' office told us at one-o'clock that the worst of the storm was passing so we decided to go ahead."

The result was a perfect Melbourne Cup warm up for Kayf Tara who goes into quarantine for Australia's greatest race on Sunday. He will be shipped to Melbourne on October 11 and will then prepare at Sandown Park racecourse on the outskirts of the city. The horse will be accompanied by Central Park who may also take up an engagement in the MacKinnon Stakes.

"He has a genuine chance, even with topweight," said the Godolphin spokesman Simon Crisford. "We took Faithful Song last year but he was more of a Caulfield Cup than a Melbourne Cup horse. Now we will hope for a wet Australian spring. Kayf Tara acts on fast ground but is better on soft."

The Hong Kong International is now a target for Yavana's Pace and possibly also for Silver Patriarch who found the soft ground too much to handle. "Pat (Eddery) always maintains the horse is not suited by it and the poor bugger couldn't lift his legs out of it," said the grey's trainer John Dunlop.

Major Force made a sparkling return to action in the MacDonagh Boland Stakes and will now be aimed at the Group One Prix de la Foret at Longchamp next month, via the Concorde Stakes at Tipperary.

"We weren't happy with him before the Irish Guineas so we left him off for the summer. It seems to have worked and he does seem to perform very well on the soft," said Major Force's trainer Dermot Weld.