THE expectation with Irish Champions Festival is that it crowns the achievements of the flat season, but for day one of the meeting at Leopardstown, it was a very different reality that revealed the brilliant weirdness of the sport of horseracing.

Instead of a handful of yards dominating, there were eight different winning trainers across the nine races, and three of them were amidst down years.

Shane Foley, who won the Irish Champion Stakes on Hotazhell, said that his trainer Jessica Harrington was having a ‘quiet season by [their] standards’ while Ger Lyons, who landed an opening race double, described himself as having a Championship team of horses trying to compete at a Premiership level.

Joe Murphy, who had only two winners in the calendar year prior to Saturday, took the Petingo Handicap with Immutable and nearly added another in the Northfields the following day.

There was no more shocking result over the entire weekend than the meeting feature where the form of the Bayerisches Zuchtrennen trumped the Juddmonte International at York, the winner and runner-up emerging from that race at Munich and returning SPs of 50/1 and 33/1, respectively.

Pushed the rules

Foley narrowly came out on top on Hotazhell with a ride that pushed the rules, but the second, Wimbledon Hawkeye shaped best, as he had done on their previous meeting at Munich.

The English raider was briefly stopped in his run on the turn-in and again early in the straight and that made the difference between winning and losing.

The fifth, A Boy Named Susie, met more significant trouble in the final furlong via the hanging Hotazhell, his chance ended at the moment, and Donnacha O’Brien was rightly angry afterwards, likely recognising that his charge may never get a better chance to win a premium Group 1 like this. It is difficult to know the true worth of these horses based on this race, with a tough contest at York three-and-a-half weeks ago seemingly having taken something out of Constitution River, Almaqan and Item.

Constitution River came out on top this time, handling the preliminaries better but still racing keen.

He moved well enough to the lead turning in but soon started to hang left, Ryan Moore working hard to correct him and the rider later reporting he had been hanging throughout the race. He has a bit to prove now but was one of several Ballydoyle three-year-olds to underwhelm over the two days.

Bolt best

The result of the Matron made more sense, Blue Bolt confirming herself the best filly miler around and winning with a bit in hand from City Of Memphis who continued her progression.

Precise disappointed in fifth though stall one may not have suited her as she went forward and looked uncomfortable doing so. Her best runs have come when coming off the pace, and she remains open to improvement stepping up in trip, but she has had a busy season.

Maire Rua was the first leg of the Lyons double in the Ingabelle and she showed a good attitude and plenty of stamina to overhaul the strong travelling Timeless Tale in the closing stages, the runner-up shaping as if a drop back to six furlongs would be no issue.

The winner was also providing a boost to the form of Alwaysanangel who must hold good claims in the upcoming Cheveley Park.

The other Lyons winner, Krasimir, benefitted from a pace collapse in the Sovereign Path, the gallop almost turning the race into a mile race, whereas the pace was much more steady in the two supporting group races.

James Doyle gave Arabian Crown an excellent ride from the front in the Kilternan, slowing the pace markedly in the middle part of the race and stacking up his rivals before kicking in the straight.

Neither Purview nor Thread Of Gold were seen to best effect while the Solonaway won by Quddwah turned out to be a weak Group 2 with non-runners and some fancied horses underperforming.

AIDAN O’Brien won three Group 1s during ICF, so it was hardly a bad weekend, but the bombshell about the overall health of his team is what stood out.

On Sunday, O’Brien revealed that ‘there is a low-grade infection running through our horses for the last two months’ and it sounded like it was ongoing rather than resolved.

He revealed all this with typical understatement, presenting it as an occupational hazard, but it is something that punters need to bear in mind over the coming weeks. His three-year-olds seem to have suffered most during this period.

From March through to June, the Ballydoyle three-year-olds running in Ireland and Britain won 30 of 167 starts for a win strike-rate of 18%, while their place strike-rate was 35.9%.

From the start of July to the end of racing last Sunday, that same group were seven winners from 90 runners, a win strike-rate of 7.8% with a place strike-rate of 21.1%.

Over the two days of ICF, O’Brien’s three-year-old runners finished with form figures of:4643370707. Of his three winners at the weekend, one was an older horse, the other two juveniles.

Scandinavia did what he does – wins – in the Irish Leger, while both Darkness Falls and Sun Goddess put up wide-margin victories in their respective Group 1s.

Staying performance

Darkness Falls won the first running of the Golden Fleece, a race Ballydoyle can be expected to dominate, with a staying performance; the pace here was strong and the winner and runner-up both came from further back in the field.

He looks much more a Derby type than a Guineas runner on this evidence, though his trainer suggested otherwise.

Sun Goddess won the Moyglare by six lengths, improving for the step up to seven furlongs and looking as if the mile would be fine too, though I am not sure how many in behind ran their races, Green Empress not travelling with the same pizazz as last time and hanging in the finish, the ground perhaps slower than ideal.

Blues finds perfect conditions

CONDITIONS at the Curragh were slower than Leopardstown, and with all the main races on Sunday well-run to boot, the emphasis was on stamina. The form from this card appeals as solid and a fair reflection of what these horses are.

Folsom Blues ran Sun Goddess close for being the most impressive winner of the day in the National Stakes, the form of the Phoenix proving super-strong, and the step up to seven furlongs with some ease in the ground looked the making of him.

His stablemate Monogram again looked as if he had a bit to learn, dwelling in the stalls and green mid-race, but he may be able to close the gap, though six lengths is a sizeable margin of defeat.

One race that did not work out is the Futurity Stakes, that form receiving knock after knock over the weekend, though Ballydoyle did seem concerned about its value beforehand as Haffner was supplemented though he also ran poorly.

Flying Five

Comanche Brave did not win the Flying Five by a big margin, but he was value for more than a length and a quarter, travelling strongly in mid-division and waiting for a gap before quickening up to win with plenty in hand.

Since Bradsell won this race in 2024, there have been 10 once-off winners of British and Irish Group 1 sprints open to three-year-olds and older but both Comanche Brave and Almeraq have become repeat winners at the top level in recent weeks, and Comanche Brave looks well up to adding to that success.

Just a four-year-old, he is unexposed at sprint trips and versatile with ground, with races abroad likely on the horizon.