O’Briens rule Day 2 of Irish Champions Festival

COUNTY KILDARE – Trainer Aidan O’Brien and his sons Joseph and Donnacha were all-conquering on the second day of the Irish Champions Festival on Sept 13 at The Curragh, where they swept all five Group races.

The legendary Ballydoyle master scored a double, with Scandinavia taking out the highlight €500,000 (S$734,000) Group 1 Irish St Leger (2,800m), and Sun Goddess saluting in the €400,000 Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes (1,400m).

A winner of the Group 1 St Leger (2,900m) at Doncaster last season, Scandinavia has now become only the fifth horse to claim both the British and Irish Classics.

Royal Lancer was the first in 1922, followed by Trigo in 1929 and Touching Wood in 1982. All three won the races in the same season when the Irish St Leger remained restricted to three-year-olds.

Eldar Eldarov became the first to complete the double across successive campaigns, following his Doncaster success in 2022 with victory at The Curragh 12 months later. Scandinavia is now only the second horse to emulate that achievement.

With his latest and fifth Group 1 victory, the Justify four-year-old remains unbeaten in five starts in 2026 while also extending his winning sequence to eight.

“He’s a St Leger winner and now an Irish St Leger winner,” said O’Brien.

“There’s no way of knowing how good this horse is over extreme trips. He has a big, high cruising speed and stamina.”

Ballydoyle controlled the shape of the race, with stablemate Queenstown (Wayne Lordan) setting the pace and Ryan Moore keeping Scandinavia within comfortable striking distance.

The $7 favourite did not assume command until inside the final 200m, thereafter gradually asserting to complete another authoritative staying performance.

Queenstown held on for second, while Jan Brueghel (Ronan Whelan) made steady late progress from the rear to take third and complete the tierce for O’Brien, who is winning the Irish St Leger for the eighth time.

Sun Goddess ($8) joined rare company at The Curragh after adding the Moyglare Stud Stakes to her Group 1 Phoenix Stakes (1,200m) success and further establishing herself among Europe’s leading two-year-old fillies.

The daughter of Sioux Nation added the fillies’ feature to her earlier success against the colts in the Phoenix Stakes, becoming only the third horse to complete the double and the first in 19 years.

Her Moyglare victory also continued O’Brien’s exceptional record in the race. Sun Goddess became his record-extending 12th winner and completed a third successive Ballydoyle success following Lake Victoria in 2024 and Precise in 2025.

Joseph, who landed the Group 1 St Leger with Highwayman and jockey Saffie Osborne on day one of the Irish Champions Festival at Leopardstown, maintained his good form with a treble.

His Group race double came in the form of Folsom Blues ($30) in the €400,000 Group 1 Vincent O’Brien National Stakes (1,400m), and Thundering On ($10) in the €200,000 Group 2 Blandford Stakes (2,000m).

Star Of State ($6) also captured the Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sales Stakes (1,300m) for him.

Folsom Blues, a son of Blue Point, powered to the lead at the 400m under Joey Sheridan and then quickened to strike by six lengths from stablemate Monogram (Colin Keane).

“We felt we were coming here with two really nice colts (Folsom Blues and Monogram),” said Joseph. “They both had very good preparations, and the winner looked really, really good today.”

It was the third victory in the race for him as a trainer after Al Riffa (2022) and Scorthy Champ (2024), while he rode Gleneagles and Air Force Blue to win for Aidan in 2014 and 2015.

Folsom Blues is now a 5-1 shot for the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes (1,400m) on Oct 10, but connections are also considering a tilt at the 2026 Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Oct 30 and 31.

Should he go to Keeneland, it could turn into a family trip because the Donnacha-trained Comanche Brave ($22) is also being aimed at the Breeders’ Cup after landing the €400,000 Group 1 Flying Five Stakes (1,000m).

Donnacha indicated that both the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (1,100m) and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile (1,600m) remain under consideration for the Wootton Bassett four-year-old, although his latest win under Billy Loughnane did much to strengthen the case for the shorter race.

“The Breeders’ Cup is very possible. We’d even had discussions about whether he might go for the Breeders’ Cup Mile rather than the sprint, but looking at that today, you wouldn’t have any worries about the shorter trip,” he said. RACING AND SPORTS