Ruby Walsh: Ryan Moore should keep it simple with St Mark’s Basilica
St Mark’s Basilica and Ioritz Mendizabal after winning the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club (Group 1) at Chantilly last May. Picture: Healy Racing
Mayo versus Tyrone, in the All-Ireland football final, will undoubtedly capture most of the headlines and news stories this weekend.
It will also take up many conversations this morning, but it is Aidan versus Jim versus Dermot, Ryan versus Kevin versus Colin, and St Mark’s Basilica versus Poetic Flare versus Tarnawa that excites me more.
The tactical conversations around today’s All-Ireland final have been endless since Tyrone smothered Kerry. Still, when you look at the Irish Champion Stakes, the options for all and sundry are endless, and this could turn into a game of chess played at 35 miles an hour and lasting just over two minutes.
Who will do what to try and win it? The late, great Pat Smullen would definitely have made the running on Tarnawa, as 12 furlongs suits her better than today’s 10. Still, Colin Keane came from off the pace to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf on her last November and might try the same again, with Dermot Weld having one eye on next month’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
In stepping Poetic Flare up in trip, Jim Bolger is stepping into the unknown. Who knows if he stays, but can I see Kevin Manning bouncing him from the stalls and grasping the lead here on a horse with stamina question marks? Probably not, because there is no way Ryan Moore or Declan McDonogh on the proven stayers will allow him to settle and coast in front.
So, who does make the running?
Ryan, on St Mark’s Basilica, or Declan, on Patrick Sarsfield? I know what I would do if I were Ryan Moore, on probably the best horse, and the one racing at the correct trip. I’d make it and be the conductor of my destiny.
Racing is no different to any sport: Do the simple things right and if you are better than the opposition, you will win.
This week, a lot of comment has centred around the fact that only four horses will go to post in this race on a weekend that has been billed and hyped to be Irish Flat racings premier meeting. I believe those crabbing the small field in such a top-level conditions race have a point, but only two horses are missing.
If you look at the top dozen rated horses on the planet, four are on a different continent with no intention of racing in Europe, let alone Ireland. Subjectivist is a stayer and is injured; the highest-rated, Adayar, is being campaigned at 12 furlongs; Palace Pier is a specialist miler; and Baaeed has never raced beyond a mile either.
It is a loss for the Irish Champion not to have one of the two English horses this race suits: Mishriff and Addeybb. Both are possibly going for the British equivalent, but that’s not until October 16.
However, we have the other two in St Mark’s Basilica and Poetic Flare. The four runners will serve up a good race, but it lacks the chilli powder to make it really hot.
Six Irish horses will travel to Doncaster today to contest the Cazoo St Leger, where Hurricane Lane, the British-trained Irish Derby winner, is the hot favourite and the most likely victor. The six Irish colts add the spice and depth to that race which is missing in the absence of English or any international horses in the Group 1s at Leopardstown. Maybe it’s a one-off, but it is undoubtedly a trend Leopardstown has to address.
HRI reacted quickly to the potential clash with today’s football final, so It starts at 12.40pm today, where Corviglia could keep the theme of the sporting year going for the ladies by winning the opener for Jessica Harrington.
In the second, Buckaroo is the each-way selection for the combination of Declan McDonogh and Joseph O Brien, who look to be the bit-part players in the Champion Stakes.
The Matron Stakes has a star in Mother Earth, but outside her it lacks another in-form Group 1 filly.
Unfortunately for Jim Bolger, if the grounds suits Poetic Flare today, it will hinder MacSwiney, so Maker Of Kings is the choice to win the Boomerang at 2.10pm. Innisfree could well wrap up a treble for Ballydoyle in the Paddy Power Stakes before the handicaps arrive, where Hook Up has the best draw of Willie Mullins’ five that you could fancy.
A big Flat meeting doesn’t seem to pass anymore without a Johnny Murtagh-trained winner, so Riot could win that before one kicks off on the pitch across Dublin City in Croke Park.
Day two tomorrow sees the action move south to the Curragh, where the card contains four Group 1s with some foreign runners, a Group 2, a sales race and a pair of competitive handicaps that top and tail the day’s entertainment.
The Flying Five, at 2.55pm, is the only top-level sprint run here, and the raiders are coming in force to claim the prize.
Winter Power was breathtaking in the Nunthorpe, and she will take some following and passing from stall four under Silvestre De Sousa for Tim Easterby.
Godolphin are sending Native Trail to try and beat Point Lonsdale in the National Stakes at 4.05pm, and it’s the kind of clash that makes this weekend what it should be.
Point Lonsdale has flown the flag on the two-year-old front all season for Ballydoyle, and if he goes down here, it could be a long winter in south Tipperary trying to find a Classic contender for next season.
Last year, Dermot Weld thrusted himself back into the limelight when Search For A Song landed her second Irish St Leger and Tarnawa won in France, the victories within an hour of each other.
Tomorrow he will hope to Search For A Song can bring up a hat-trick of wins in the final Irish Classic of the season, 70 minutes after Homeless Songs has contested the Moyglare Stakes, both horses representing the sponsors and long-term supporters of Rosewell House Stables.
Nobody likes a plan and a target like DK.
