BY any standard, it was a terrific weekend of racing and most of it on Irish shores. Many of the leading horses in the European rankings on show and the two current top-rated Timeform two-year-olds took Group 1 wins at the Curragh.

There was also a momentous day for the 250th running of the St Leger, a race that did really need a little injection of something, even if Doncaster really does come out in attendance.

Of course, this weekend also used to have the Arc Trials meeting on the Sunday and there have been calls that there was too much top racing on Saturday and the St Leger should have a day of its own.

It did in fact have just that three years ago, when it was on September 16th and its main attraction was that it was the last classic for Frankie Dettori on the eve of his retirement. It proved not really a headline maker, since Arrest and Dettori were beaten by the Ryan Moore-ridden Continuous, coming home ahead of Desert Hero and Tower Of London. In hindsight, not the most appetising classic.

Had last week’s Leger been a week earlier or later, it would have been unlikely that Saffie Osborne would get a call up and we might have Dylan Browne McMonagle or Joey Sheridan on the Joseph O’Brien horses against Ryan Moore on Christmas Day.

The 2026 Leger actually got more attention because the Irish racing took a lot of the main players to Ireland.

In all her media interviews since, even if it took the BBC some time to cop on to the merit, Saffie Osborne has been a much-needed positive for the sport.

The main talking point from the Irish Champions Weekend, after the initial delight at a home winner for the Harringtons, was the attention brought to the ride of Shane Foley and the subsequent public criticism, especially by Donnacha O’Brien.

Should the stewards have reversed the result, or given a more severe punishment than 11 days for careless riding? Both Ruby Walsh and Emmet McNamara on RTE Racing said they would happily accept the ‘punishment’ and keep the win, which tells its own story. It’s hard to say if many would have stopped riding or made a correction in such a tight a finish that would have cost him the race. It’s hard to judge on a call of a ‘dangerous’ ride, even if Foley does not have the best record. Horses are unpredictable at best.

James Doyle got no sanctions for his ride at Doncaster on Final Objective on Friday, but did not take kindly to criticism from Seb Sanders on ITV.

The stewards’ report was: Final Objective stepped quickly left-handed, despite Doyle’s best effort to straighten the gelding, causing In The Black to become short for room and McDonald to check when placed on the heels of Final Objective resulting in In The Black clipping a heel and stumbling after the line.

It is the inconsistency that rankles. There were two sets of very similar interference at recent Goodwood meetings. On the day of the Stewards Cup, August 1st, no sanctions were issued after Ghost Mode and Rob Hornby won, but had hung badly. The distance was a length and a quarter, but he interfered with rivals. Stewards’ report: The interference was found to be accidental, as Ghost Mode had hung badly left-handed despite Hornby’s efforts to correct his mount, firstly taking Marengo Storm, We’re Goosers and Ironwill off their intended racing lines and thereafter, shortly before the finish, causing Murphy to steady We’re Goosers off.

Then, on Friday, August 28th, check something similar, where Alice De Clare hung in a similar fashion, but the winning distance from Kokoluna was a nose and placings reversed. The interference looked identical. Should on-the-day decisions warrant a second panel to review?

Oisin Murphy’s three-day ban on Thursday came after he had made a move that didn’t take consideration that he could have taken down the horse behind him. It’s becoming dangerous days.