IT was always going to be nigh impossible for this year’s renewal of the Qipco Irish Champion Stakes to replicate last year’s in terms of quality.

Last year’s race was the joint highest-rated turf race in the world in 2016, and it was just a half a length behind the Arrogate/California Chrome duel for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, run on dirt at Santa Anita in November.

Last year’s winner went on to win the Champion Stakes at Ascot, last year’s runner-up went on to win the Arc, last year’s third went on to win the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. It was a race of races.

This year’s renewal was starting to look a little threadbare, in Group 1 terms, at the end of last month. Almanzor would surely have come over in a bid to become just the second back-to-back winner in the history of the race, after Dylan Thomas, but, alas, horses being horses and all, Jean-Claude Rouget’s horse was beaten on his comeback run at Deauville and has been retired.

ALTERNATIVES

Almanzor’s stable companion Brametot would have been a hugely attractive alternative, but the Prix du Jockey Club winner was beaten in the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano at Deauville on the same day, and suddenly the Arc became the only game in town for him.

Other possible contenders like Ulysses and Cracksman were ruled out, and suddenly Churchill’s participation was crucial. Churchill is running, which is massive, the dual Guineas winner. Eminent is a great addition, and Frankie Dettori is always a huge draw.

Poet’s Word had other options this weekend, so it is great that he has made the trip, and Cliffs Of Moher, the Derby runner-up, adds more ballast. Add Dermot Weld’s Man O’ War Stakes winner Zhukova and the evergreen Success Days and Meld Stakes winner Moonlight Magic and we have a race.

The fact that Prince of Wales’s Stakes runner-up Decorated Knight is a 25/1 shot provides an indication of the level of the quality of the field that has been assembled.