Camelot (GB)'s Los Angeles (Ire) is likely to contest the G1 Irish Champion Stakes on Irish Champions Weekend alongside Aidan O'Brien stablemates August Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Luxemborg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), O'Brien revealed on Monday. The master of Ballydoyle also outlined plans for other runners from his stable for the mid-September meeting.
Five-for-six in his young career, with a third in the G1 Derby followed by victories in the G1 Irish Derby and G2 Great Voltigeur Stakes in June and August, respectively, Los Angeles faces a tough ask in the 1 1/4-mile Leopardstown affair on Sept. 14. He is also entered in the G1 St Leger Stakes at Doncaster that same day.
“It looks like at the moment Los Angeles is going to run,” said O'Brien. “We had it in our head going to York that we might go that way and that was the reason for doing it.
“We thought he's the kind of horse that could finish in the first three, four or five in a [Irish] Champion Stakes and could go onto an Arc. That's what we still think and if the ground got soft in France he'd have no problem with that.
“Obviously we were delighted with his run in York. We could go to the Leger with him, but we have three others [by Galileo (Ire)] that look like real Leger horses (Illinois {Ire}, Jan Brueghel {Ire} and Grosvenor Square {Ire}) that will get the trip very well and we didn't think that he needs to go that trip.
“It definitely won't do him any harm to run over a mile and a quarter and we'll learn a lot about him. He could be an Arc horse and I'd say there's no doubt he'll stay in training next year.”
In 2023, Derby/Irish Derby winner Auguste Rodin used a win in the Irish Champion as a springboard to a thrilling victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. Although a winner of the G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, the 4-year-old is aiming for some redemption after a fifth-place run in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes last out on July 27. The G1 Japan Cup is the long term goal for the son of Deep Impact.
“He loves fast ground and his last bit of work was excellent, he showed a lot of zest in it,” added O'Brien. “He went by his lead horse very easy, whereas usually he wouldn't at that stage of the work. He was very confident and it was a bit different.
“The plan is to go to Leopardstown and then go to Japan after it. We think he's a mile-and-a-quarter horse that gets a mile and a half, but he doesn't want any further than that. He's a very slick horse who travels very well and does everything very easy.
“If he [Auguste Rodin] runs I'd imagine Ryan will ride him. I suppose if the ground got soft everything might change, but I'd imagine he will ride him.”
Another Irish Champion Stakes entrant is Luxembourg, who claimed the G1 Coronation Cup in May. The 5-year-old entire led for part of the King George before succumbing to the charge of Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) and finishing sixth.
“Luxembourg is a very consistent, strong horse,” said O'Brien. “He'll go forward–over a mile and a quarter he doesn't mind making the running and you have to follow him because he won't be stopping.”
On the juvenile front, the unbeaten Railway/Futurity Stakes hero Henri Matisse (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) looms large in the G1 National Stakes, with G3 Acomb Stakes-winning stablemate The Lion In Winter (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) more likely for the Goffs Million on Sept. 28. Multiple group winner Bedtime Story (Ire), a winner of all four of her starts, and Lake Victoria (Ire), who sports a win in the G3 Sweet Solera Stakes, will represent Frankel in the G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. The Cheveley Park Stakes is the aim for two-time Group 3 scorer Fairy Godmother (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}).
“That [National Stakes] was always the plan for Henri Matisse and the lads will decide whether the horse that won in York will run or not, but he's still there,” said O'Brien. “If he doesn't go there he'll go to the Goffs. He's being kept on the boil for the National Stakes, but the plan is that he'll go to the Million.”
Group 1 winner Ylang Ylang (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is on song to race in the G1 Matron Stakes, while standout stayer Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is aiming for his second consecutive G1 Irish St Leger. Opera Singer (Justify) is targeting the G1 Prix Vermeille in the hopes of enhancing her G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe credentials.
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