Duke drift sparks Champion shutdown
Aidan O’Brien’s four-year-old had been a clear short-priced favourite for the prestigious Group One since collecting his fifth consecutive win of the season in the rearranged Juddmonte International at Newmarket.
All those successes had been at the highest level but O’Brien did issue a warning earlier this week that the Leopardstown contest may come too soon for him.
That statement did not cause any initial reaction in the market but in the early trading hours of Wednesday, Jim Bolger’s Derby winner New Approach came in for sustained support forcing bookmakers to suspend betting on the race.
At 4pm only William Hill and Bet 365 had reopened their book, with Hills offering 4-5 about Duke Of Marmalade and 11-10 about New Approach.
Bet 365 are even more unsure and the pair are even money favourites.
Duke Of Marmalade had touched a high of 4.1 on the betting exchange Betfair in the morning but by late afternoon he had settled at around the 2.4 (around 6-4) mark.
O’Brien, who was unavailable for comment, has four other horses still engaged in the Champion Stakes including dual 2000 Guineas winner Henrythenavigator and dual Pattern-race winner King Of Rome.
Ladbrokes have decided to suspend their market until the declaration stage this morning.
