THE 2026 running of the Phoenix Stakes looked sub-standard beforehand, just two of the eight runners having won last time, no English runner or true representative of the Coventry form. Furthermore, most of the fancied runners looked seven-furlong types that were running because it was a Group 1, rather than the race necessarily suiting them.

Despite all this, I am inclined to view the winner Sun Goddess positively because of her style of victory and Aidan O’Brien’s post-race comments that explained why she may have improved.

This was a well-run race and Ryan Moore had the advantage of knowing how it would unfold, opting to sit out the back while the gallop was set by the pace-making Carry The Flag, but the manner in which the filly cut through the field from halfway was impressive, hitting the front soon enough before finding more in the finish.

Sun Goddess looked an excellent prospect on her first two starts, before getting beaten at odds-on at Royal Ascot, then landing a workmanlike success in the Airlie Stud eight days later. Those two runs appeared to put a ceiling on her, but this was a much-improved effort.

Her trainer said afterwards that she had a slight issue before Ascot and was not at her best with the quick turnaround for Derby weekend, so there were reasons for improvement, and she could be better again over seven furlongs.

Different distances

The runner-up Folsom Blues is another that should be suited by further and listening to Joseph O’Brien when interviewed at Leopardstown the Thursday before the meeting, it sounded like it was a last-minute decision to run here, the Futurity Stakes initially the plan.

He acquitted himself well, and may head straight to the National Stakes now, while the third Velozee travelled as well as anything and certainly wants no further than this, and may even be better over the minimum distance.

The well-backed Celeron disappointed, but was found to be lame afterwards, and he is another that wants further than six furlongs, though the form of his Railway Stakes win was let down by other runners in this race.

The other group race on the Curragh card was the Phoenix Sprint Stakes, though it was uncompetitive with just five runners, the sole Group 1 winner Big Mojo coming out on top.

As a spectacle, the Grand Hotel Malahide Irish EBF Fillies Juvenile Race, a maiden in all but name, was a strange watch as Ballydoyle used a pacemaker for Ibelieveicanfly and it worked well, few if any of her rivals able to cope with the high tempo of the race.

This spoke to the regard she is held in, but she has her quirks and raced keenly even with the hood applied, so may need this sort of searing gallop in all her races.

ETHICAL Diamond, with a mark of 118, was the highest-rated horse to run in Ireland over the last week or so, and he returned to something like his best to win the Ballyroan Stakes at Leopardstown, travelling well and battling in a tight finish with Green Impact.

This win was not at the same level as his Breeders’ Cup Turf win last November, but he looks on the way back to form, seemingly trained with the second half of the season in mind. He will be on his travels again soon, with a million-dollar race at Kentucky Downs next month his next target.

The runner-up Green Impact was another to return to form after a mid-season break, and this narrow defeat brought his Leopardstown record to 1112. He looked to prove his stamina for this 12-furlong trip and is an obvious one for the Kilternan Stakes back here at the Irish Champions Festival where he is unlikely to face anything as highly rated as Ethical Diamond.

The Desmond Stakes earlier on that Leopardstown card was another ICF trial and it was run at a strong pace, the seven-furlong specialist Audience going his usual pace over the mile trip. Even so, it was hard to come from behind and Isaac Newton had a good position close to the pace but not part of it to win his second race of the season.

He has been a little inconsistent this year, but trips around a mile on decent ground seem to suit, with the Boomerang Stakes over this course and distance likely his next race, though it would be no surprise if the runner-up Needle Match got closer to him there.

More to come

The William Haggas-trained three-year-old was having just his fourth start here, and his first since the 2000 Guineas where he seemed ill at ease with the Newmarket track, while the betting suggested this race was needed.

He raced close to a strong pace here, keeping on well late, and while he could get further, the more galloping alignment of this track for ICF should play to his strengths.

The opening juvenile maiden over a mile was run at a very steady pace before a fast finish and the winner Wall Street deserves lot of credit for winning from the rear, the race not run to suit, while he also did plenty wrong.

Having dwelt at the stalls, he raced in rear and was green on debut but showed a fine turn of foot to win with a bit in hand, with another debutante Jesus Green chasing him home and shaping well as he came from a similarly bad position.

At the time of writing, Aidan O’Brien has run 49 two-year-old debutantes in 2026, with seven of them winning.

Wall Street was the seventh, joining a group made up of New Yorker, Great Barrier Reef, Victorious, Sergei Diaghilev, Aix La Chapelle and Abraham Lincoln. At least four of those look rock-solid group performers, and Wall Street should be similar.

THE meeting at Gowran Park last Friday had a massive front-end bias, the seven winners on the card having in-running lines of: made all, towards rear, made virtually all, made all, prominent, made all and raced in second, led halfway.

One glaring outlier was Rebel Wave winning the second race, a handicap for fillies over seven furlongs, from off the pace, and even in a small field she did well to come from behind, the early pace steady per the sectionals before a fast finish.

Willie McCreery’s filly was still a touch green making her challenge out wide, Billy Lee not asking her for everything until the final furlong and she was well on top at the line. The form looks solid too as she beat a rival with good course form.

This was her handicap debut, and a reminder that it is hard for such horses; in all Irish turf handicaps since 2020, handicap debutantes have a strike rate of just 6.8%, that number higher at every point up to the eighth start where handicappers begin to become exposed. The strike rate of three-year-old handicap debutantes in against older rivals, as Rebel Wave was, is even lower at 6.1%.

Rebel Wave was an expensive yearling at €280,000 so presumably has pedigree and/or physique to recommend her too, and she should still be on a good mark after this neck win, the track likely masking her superiority. An upcoming entry in the Fairy Bridge Stakes, run at Cork this year, suggests connections are thinking of blacktype but she looks well-handicapped before heading that way.