Sea The Stars set to square off with current BC Turf favorite Fame And Glory
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from Sporting Life:
Aidan O'Brien is looking forward to the potential re-match between Fame And Glory and Sea The Stars in Saturday's Tatteralls Irish Champion Stakes.
The master of Ballydoyle felt the uneven pace of the Epsom Derby conspired against his colt on their last meeting and was frustrated the pair didn't meet again in the Irish Derby.
On that occasion Sea The Stars was a late absentee because of the soft ground and Fame And Glory ran out a clear-cut winner from stablemate Golden Sword.
"Everybody knew Epsom was a muddling pace and we felt it was possibly a little inconclusive. We were looking forward to the Curragh after that - and while I'm not saying the result would have been different - we'd have had a better handle on it," he told At The Races.
"Fame And Glory went to the Curragh where the pace was even and level and won very snugly.
"We are obviously looking forward to Leopardstown. We know it's back to a mile-and-a-quarter but it will be interesting to see."
O'Brien expects his charge to be at the top of his game at the weekend.
"He had a break and this is the first run of his autumn campaign. We don't think the trip is a problem, we always feel the top mile-and-a-half horses have no problem going back to ten furlongs," he added.
"He has plenty of speed, is a great traveller and is tactically quick early. I'm looking forward to the race."
Aidan O'Brien is looking forward to the potential re-match between Fame And Glory and Sea The Stars in Saturday's Tatteralls Irish Champion Stakes.
The master of Ballydoyle felt the uneven pace of the Epsom Derby conspired against his colt on their last meeting and was frustrated the pair didn't meet again in the Irish Derby.
On that occasion Sea The Stars was a late absentee because of the soft ground and Fame And Glory ran out a clear-cut winner from stablemate Golden Sword.
"Everybody knew Epsom was a muddling pace and we felt it was possibly a little inconclusive. We were looking forward to the Curragh after that - and while I'm not saying the result would have been different - we'd have had a better handle on it," he told At The Races.
"Fame And Glory went to the Curragh where the pace was even and level and won very snugly.
"We are obviously looking forward to Leopardstown. We know it's back to a mile-and-a-quarter but it will be interesting to see."
O'Brien expects his charge to be at the top of his game at the weekend.
"He had a break and this is the first run of his autumn campaign. We don't think the trip is a problem, we always feel the top mile-and-a-half horses have no problem going back to ten furlongs," he added.
"He has plenty of speed, is a great traveller and is tactically quick early. I'm looking forward to the race."
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from The Herald (Ireland):
A total of 11 remain in Irish Champion Stakes contention after yesterday's five-day forfeit stage, however there is only one horse that really matters and as it stands he remains on course.
Sea The Stars headed the entries for the Tattersalls-sponsored contest yesterday as his quest for a fifth consecutive Group 1 success now depends on the Gods above.
John Oxx has constantly insisted that his champion three-year-old will not be risked on ground which he feels the three-year-old couldn't run up to his rating of 133, although over the weekend the trainer did reveal that Sea The Stars' participation will be considered once there is 'good' somewhere in the description, even if it is on the slow side.
No good in the description and no Sea The Stars on Champion Stakes day and more damning, no opportunity for the Irish racing public to witness the latest star export from the equine industry. .
Oxx said yesterday: "Leopardstown is a free-draining track, but it will need to be, and we'll have to see how things look in another couple of days. We'll have to see what the track has had today. They were starting off with good, good to firm ground, so they were in a good place to begin with."
The Irish Champion Stakes is renowned as one of Europe's premier races year in, year out, but the prospect of having both the Epsom Derby victor and Irish Derby winner Fame And Glory go head-to-head has meant that this year's renewal could be set as one of the battles of the last decade. This has been Fame And Glory's target ever since he landed the Dubai Duty Free at the Curragh, from which Sea The Stars was a late absentee due to the ground conditions, and although Fame And Glory appears the first choice of team Ballydoyle, Mastercraftsman also remained amongst yesterday's acceptors.
Officials at Leopardstown are still confident that they can draw the most powerful asset in Irish flat racing to Saturday's showpiece. Manager Tom Burke admitted that while yesterday's rain had an effect, the Foxrock venue had missed most of the heavy downfalls prior to that. "The rain will have pushed us back to good to yielding, but that is only a guess," he said.
Fame And Glory is favourite on betting exchange website Betfair with most of their layers clearly feeling that the rain will deter Sea The Stars from this assignment.
As of late last night, Fame And Glory was trading at 1.55 (8/15) on the machine with Sea The Stars available to back at 3.9 (3/1), while Paddy Power make it 4/7 that Sea The Stars will not run on Saturday and 5/4 that he does make the line-up. If he does, and only if he does, Sea The Stars is quoted at 4/6 to win the match bet against Fame And Glory, who is 11/10 to win that private duel.
Sea The Stars is the crowd puller, a lot rests on his already legendary hoofs but even more rests on the weather and rainfall over Leopardstown racecourse between now and Saturday afternoon.