Class act who doesn’t always get the credit he deserves

It is a strange state of affairs when the favourites for one of the biggest races of the year has hardly merited a line of press coverage in the build up, but that’s the way it has been this week for John Oxx’s Azamour.

The ever-phlegmatic Currabeg handler, is not in the slightest concerned about this situation and would undoubtedly confess that with all the ‘will-he, won’t-he’ media speculation about the participation of Epsom Derby winner Motivator, attention has been neatly switched off his Irish Champion Stakes title holder Azamour.

The weather has been the main focus for the British media ahead of the race, but the rain of the last two days has made the ground Leopardstown suitable for Michael Bell’s horse, after the connections found to their bitter disappointment that Motivator does not like fast ground.