Order Of St George seeks Curragh hat-trick on comeback
Order Of St George, off the track since just failing to reel in Big Orange in an epic finish to the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, returns to action on Saturday in the Comer Group International Irish St Leger Trial Stakes.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained staying star bids for a third consecutive victory in the Curragh Group 3 against five rivals, three of which hail from the Willie Mullins stable.
Leading the team is Wicklow Brave, who caused a major upset when lowering the colours of Order Of St George in last season’s Irish St Leger.
He is joined by stablemates Renneti and Aussie Reigns, while O’Brien’s son Joseph has declared Rekindling. The Jim Bolger-trained Twilight Payment completes the line-up.
O’Brien holds a typically strong hand in the juvenile contests at the Curragh on Sunday with September and Happily – the choice of Ryan Moore - declared for the Breast Cancer Research Debutante Stakes.
“September is coming off a break since Royal Ascot and the other filly won nicely at Leopardstown,” the trainer said on At The Races. “They’re going into a Group 2 but if everything went well they’ll go on from there.”
O’Brien is responsible for half the field in the same card’s Group 2 Futurity Stakes, with Berkeley Square, Coat Of Arms and Rostropovich all featuring in the 7f contest.
Nyaleti, who finished second to September at Royal Ascot before winning the Group 3 Princess Margaret Juddmonte Stakes last time, will have a new jockey in Sunday’s Darley Prix Morny as James Doyle has been booked to ride.
Fellow British contenders Havana Grey and Unfortunately – both trained by Karl Burke – also feature in the final field of eight at Deauville.
Brian Meehan has opted against running Barraquero at Deauville after deciding to focus on domestic targets for the Richmond Stakes winner.
“We’re not running Barraquero in the Prix Morny now and we’ll make plans on a week by week basis, he’s in lots of good races,” the trainer said.
“However, all roads lead to Newmarket and I want him to end up in either the Darley Dewhurst Stakes or the Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes. They are definitely his end of season targets.”
fonte : RacingPost
