WE’D all like to be at Leopardstown today to see the world’s best racehorse strut his stuff. Or indeed at the Curragh tomorrow to see the stars of the future. But isn’t it great racing is going on at all? The world has never seemed so crazy and the bare fact is that if in the middle of lockdown you were offered an Irish Champions Weekend going ahead with little or no decline in the quality compared to recent seasons, you’d take hand and all.

And let’s be honest, there are worse places to be than the old Kangaroo’s Pouch today and tomorrow afternoon because there is so much happening. There are Group 1s at Doncaster, ParisLongchamp and Baden-Baden and if you’re feeling sprightly, you may well have started your weekend at 6:30am this morning to see the Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington.

But ICW will take centre stage. The quality level not dropping is owed mostly the two factors: the prize money levels remaining substantial and the successful coup of gaining a quarantine exemption for foreign riders. The quarantine factor was instrumental in swaying Ghaiyyath’s connections to fly into Dublin today, and not just him. Michael Dods was swaying away from bringing his mare Que Amoro over for the Flying Five at the Curragh tomorrow but swayed back on the basis that her regular partner Paul Mulrennan can now ride her.

This may well have proven significant in the decisions to send over Safe Voyage (will be ridden by Jason Hart) for the Boomerang Mile and Fujaira Prince (Andrea Atzeni) for the Irish St Leger. Irish Champions Weekend was designed to showcase Irish racing on a world stage and move on to a level with the top meetings, festivals and carnivals around the world. You need top horses from different countries to legitimately hold that sort of billing and in this year of years, that there are 31 British-trained horses and one from France making the trip, says a lot for this racing weekend.

Ghaiyyath is the star attraction. Those who pull into the side of the road beside Dublin Airport to plane watch are probably in the best position to get a glimpse of the five-year-old, who flies in on his own private plane, alongside stablemate Master Of The Seas, this morning.

The Godolphin star has looked a right aeroplane himself this term and is gunning for a fourth Group 1 which will take his earnings past the million mark in sterling.

The Matron Stakes contrasts to the main event, with no Ghaiyyath-like superstar but it’s all the more intriguing for that factor. It features a third meeting of Fancy Blue and Peaceful, the score currently at 1-1. It also features two Johnny Murtagh-trained fillies, Know It All and Champers Elysees, who have a chance to give their trainer the crowning moment of what has been a breakout season. When he first started training, the only reason Murtagh went to ICW was because he was invited to lunch but if he can win with one of these fillies, he’ll be dining out on his finest success as a trainer to date.

SINCE Dubawi gave Godolphin a significant win in the Vincent O’Brien National Stakes in 2004, the race has often provided a platform for the rivalry between Sheikh Mohammed’s operation and Coolmore/Ballydoyle to prosper.

The two superpowers have combined for nine of the 15 renewals since. The majority of those have gone to Ballydoyle but Godolphin have won the last two, with Quorto, a son of Dubawi, and most memorably last year when Pinatubo stole the show.

Tomorrow’s renewal facilitates another major clash because in Battleground and Master Of The Seas, the pair pit their current best juveniles against each other.

That said, perhaps that angle of the race has clouded the outlook for tomorrow because on all known form this season, Lucky Vega is the one to beat. He is already a Group 1 winner, an impressive one at that, and represents a set of connections who have very much prospered this year; Shane Foley, Jessica Harrington and owner Zhang Yuesheng.

DON’T forget about Sunchart in the St Leger today. Owner Pat Garvey had numerous opportunities to sell this colt over the winter but sportingly chose to roll the dice and the main beneficiaries of that decision has been the father-and-son trainer-jockey partnership of Andrew Slattery and Andrew Jr.

They combine with the son of Teofilo who is a 50/1 outsider for today’s big one at Doncaster. He is yet to win a race this season but was only just beaten on both of his last two starts, most notably in his latest run at Leopardstown where he chased a hard early pace only to be picked off late on by the fast improving Pista, who gave that form a significant boost with her top staying performance in the Park Hill Stakes, often referred to as the fillies’ St Leger, at this track on Thursday.

It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Sunchart outrun his odds today.