British racing’s unprecedented “strike” action on Wednesday ensures extra eyes will be on Cork’s relatively mundane fixture, where star Japanese jockey Ryusei Sakai warms up for the weekend’s Irish Champions Festival.
The 28-year-old rider, who won the world’s most valuable race, the $20 million Saudi Cup in February, is back for another crack at Saturday’s Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Shin Emperor.
The partnership finished a close third to Economics in last year’s €1.25 million race, which is the highlight of this weekend’s showpiece action. After Tuesday’s acceptance stage, Shin Emperor is one of 12 left in the Champion Stakes where he’s set to take on Aidan O’Brien’s favourite Delacroix.
The Japanese colt has been training at the Curragh since arriving back in Ireland and Sakai teamed up with him on Tuesday morning.
The jockey said: “He is a more mature and stronger horse now than last year, more experienced too. He looks great, very healthy and seems to have settled well into his new environment on the Curragh.
“I also learned a lot from the race at Leopardstown last year and I hope that experience can help us in the big race. He’s a straightforward horse. He led and won in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, or you can wait with him like we did here a year ago, so I think we will have options.”
Shin Emperor was initially installed a 4/1 second favourite by Powers, who cut Delacroix to odds-on for the race.
Ryusei Sakai after riding Forever Young to victory in the Saudi Cup earlier this year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Photograph: Francois Nel/Getty Images
The stakes will be much lower in Cork, where Sakai has two rides including on Eichan San in a mile maiden. Ireland’s top riding talent, including Colin Keane and Dylan Browne McMonagle, will also be there as Cork has the Anglo-Irish racing stage to itself.
Unlike anticipation of the glamour of this weekend’s action in Ireland, where over €5 million in prizemoney is up for grabs, British racing is primed to protest against the “existential threat” posed by proposed harmonisation of betting duty rates there.
Voluntarily calling off four meetings mightn’t strictly meet criteria for strike, but it is reflective of cross-channel worry ahead of the British government’s November budget. Some of the sport’s great and good, hardly stereotypical strikers, will attend a protest event in Westminster.
Boiled down, it revolves around a threat to racing’s finances if government harmonises tax-take on all wagering. Such a move would mean ignoring any distinction between games of betting skill and games of betting chance, such as online casino slots.
If it happens, the cost to British racing is predicted to be £330 million (€380 million) over five years. It could also cost thousands of jobs and impact significantly on prizemoney levels in Britain.
Aidan O’Brien at his yard alongside Mark Crehan and Delacroix, who is primed for the Champion Stakes. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
Calls for solidarity by calling off Cork got short shrift from the authorities here, but the protest underlines an anxious cross-channel atmosphere ahead of Thursday’s start to Doncaster’s St Leger festival.
With Longchamp’s Arc Trials fixture moved forward, the weekend international spotlight will be firmly on the Champions Festival.
The power of O’Brien’s Ballydoyle team is underlined by over 50 entries over the two days. They include the star three-year-olds Lambourn and Scandinavia, who have been left in Sunday’s Curragh feature, the €500,000 Comer Group Irish St Leger. That’s despite topping the betting for Doncaster’s Leger the day before.
O’Brien also has prime older contenders for the Irish Leger in Illinois and Jan Brueghel. A handful of Ballydoyle juveniles are each entered for the two big two-year-old contests, the Moyglare Stud Stakes and the Goffs National Stakes.
There will be major international Group One interest at the Curragh, too, as the star Australian sprinter Asfoora remains on track for the Bar One Flying Five. Successful in York’s Nunthorpe last month, her trainer Henry Dwyer is hopeful ground conditions don’t get testing.
Oisin Murphy riding Asfoora (right) to win the Nunthorpe Stakes at York last month. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images
“We just hope the ground can remain on the good side,” he said. “She will be okay on good-to-soft, but we can’t do much about the surface. She is in top shape and will travel over (from England) on Friday. We are really looking forward to racing her in Ireland.”
Oisin Murphy will again ride the mare and Dwyer added: “Asfoora came out of winning the Nunthorpe at York very well. I would say she is at or very near her peak now. I can’t be there with her at present, I am back in Australia, but my team have been with her all the way and they feel she has improved since York.”
The first Group One of the weekend will be the Coolmore Matron Stakes at Leopardstown, into which AMO Racing’s Cathedral has been supplemented. The Coronation Stakes winner Cercene is among the 13 entries too.
Royal Champion and Anmaat are the two British-based hopefuls left in the Champion Stakes. Chris Hayes rides Anmaat in place of Jim Crowley, who is recovering from a broken leg sustained in a fall at York on Sunday.