Leopardstown is set to see the culmination of over two years of preparation when Japanese contender Shin Emperor encounters the creme de la creme of European horseracing at the upcoming Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes scheduled for next Saturday. The €1.25 million crowning event of the Irish Champions Festival is anticipated to feature a formidable line-up from Aidan O’Brien, led by the previous year’s victor, Auguste Rodin. O’Brien is eyeing his record 13th win at the Champion Stakes.
Bookies predict that the most promising challenger to the established dominance of Ballydoyle may be Economics, a rising star, three-year-old from William Haggas’s stable. Yet, the appeal of the season is the unusual threat emerging from Japan. Yoshito Yahagi, Japan’s esteemed trainer, is grooming Shin Emperor for the Champion Stakes as a prelude to his challenge in the forthcoming Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe next month.
Shin Emperor, purchased as a yearling for €2.1 million in France, shares his lineage with Sotsass. The latter had a notable performance in 2020 Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, finishing fourth, before securing the Arc that year. Shin Emperor’s latest performance saw him finishing third at the Japanese Derby in May, which came after his fifth-place finish at their equivalent of the 2,000 Guineas.
Previously, the only Japanese entrant for the Champion Stakes was Deirdre, managing a fourth-place finish against Magical in 2019. Yoshito Yahagi has been a pivotal figure in guiding the foreign successes of Japanese horseracing, bagging victories in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, and Australia. His horse, Forever Young, secured third place in this year’s Kentucky Derby, and he also made history with Japan’s inaugural triumphs at the Breeders’ Cup last year.
However, the top international goal for Japanese racing remains a maiden Arc victory. Shin Emperor, currently stationed at Chantilly, is all set for his Leopardstown outing. Expressing his ambition to pit Shin Emperor against the top-tier European horses, Yahagi told Japanese media last week, “The Irish Champion Stakes is one of the most prestigious races in Europe, and attracting premier horses. Shin Emperor’s third-place finish in the Derby is enough testament, and now I want to test him against Europe’s finest.”
Shin Emperor, priced at low odds of 10-1 on some pre-race lists, will journey to Dublin along with his stablemate La Familia, participating in the Group Three Kilternan Stakes on the same day. Their presence serves as a welcome addition for executives at Leopardstown, who scrapped entrance fees in order to draw Japanese participants. The Champion Stakes originally had a €4,000 entry fee during its initial stages in May, escalating to €22,500 in July with a further optional supplement of €75,000 next week. Seeing as these amounts are minuscule in the world of elite sports, Yashagi mentioned that the Irish involvement was significant, stating, “For two or three years, Irish organisers have been reaching out to me. The fact that they dropped the entrance fee is a big reason behind our decision.”
Leopardstown’s CEO, Tim Husbands, remarked that the abolition of the entry fee was an indication of their determination to secure Japanese engagement. “Whenever possible, I’ve been meeting Japanese trainers, both in Japan and in Dubai. We’ve been actively pursuing this for over two years,” Husbands declared. “We’ve strived to create a compelling narrative and a strong rationale for them to join us in trying their chances. We’re thrilled that Mr Yahagi and his team have decided to participate. This summer, only one Japanese horse competed at York, compared to our two, illustrating their commitment to Ireland,” he continued.
For the first time, Leopardstown will organise a nine-race programme, thanks to its inclusion in the high-stakes Tote World Pool. Similarly, a nine-race programme was hosted by The Curragh on Irish Derby Day during the summer season.
Auguste Rodin, a colt of the esteemed Deep Impact from Japan, will be joined by his stable partners Luxembourg, last year’s second-place finisher, and Los Angeles. Auguste Rodin aims to become only the third racehorse to claim back-to-back victories in the Champion Stakes, after Dylan Thoms accomplished this in 2006-07 and Magical repeated her 2019 triumph the following year. Despite Los Angeles, this year’s Irish Derby winner, also being in the field, it has been hinted that Ryan Moore will continue his successful partnership with Auguste Rodin.
The upcoming Monday races at Roscommon will see eight representatives from renowned trainer Joseph O’Brien, who recently celebrated a victory with Wigmore Street in Saturday’s Cambridgeshire at the Curragh, steered by Moore.
Among his entries, two of them stand out in the first two-year-old rookie race – holding positions at the extremes of the weight bracket. There’s a fair chance that Raven Darkholme – the lighter of the eight – may surpass her previous best-to-second finish at Galway, this time considering her lighter load and mastering cornering issues.
O’Brien’s Rosso is also anticipated to be a significant contender in Monday’s race scene. Another one to watch would be Prairie Angel, a maiden hurdle champion, who aspires to leverage her official 62 rating in the concluding handicap run.
However, the Piltown-based trainer had a less favourable outcome on Saturday night’s Kentucky Downs event. His horse Stromberg placed only six, trailing behind the victor Bellum Justum in the much sought-after Grade Three Nashville Derby. The winning horse was directed by the esteemed jockey Frankie Dettori and was under the tutelage of trainer Andrew Balding.