All roads lead to Melbourne for Willie Mullins’s rising star Vauban who will give this weekend’s Irish Champions Festival a swerve.
The Rich Ricci-owned horse is a general 10-1 shot for Sunday’s Comer Group Irish St Leger, the €600,000 feature of Day Two in Irish flat racing’s newly titled showpiece event at the Curragh.
However, having won Royal Ascot’s Copper Horse Handicap in June, and satisfied Melbourne Cup entry criteria by winning a Group Three at Naas last month, Vauban’s target is firmly down under at the race that famously stops a nation on the first Tuesday in November.
Vauban is already a 6-1 favourite for the $8 million (€7.4 million) Flemington spectacular where he will be joined in a powerful two-pronged Mullins attack by his stable companion Absurde.
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The latter was a distant runner-up to Vauban at Ascot before scoring a memorable Ebor victory at York under Frankie Dettori.
“The plan is that both Absurde and Vauban both go directly to Melbourne. We weren’t tempted by the Irish Leger for Vauban who hasn’t been got ready for it,” Mullins said on Sunday.
Jump racing’s dominant figure came agonisingly close to landing the Melbourne Cup in 2015 when the Dettori-ridden Max Dynamite was unlucky in running when runner-up. Mullins has also finished third and fourth in the race in the past.
“The type of yard we have, it’s very doubtful we’ll ever have a Breeders Cup horse or something like that.
“So, as flat racing goes this is probably as high as we’d go, that or maybe a Gold Cup horse in Ascot or the Prix du Cadran in Paris. The nature of this race [Melbourne Cup] helps us – and there’s the small matter of eight million Australian dollars too!” Mullins said.
Dettori has indicated he would like to maintain his association with Absurde and try to finally win the Melbourne Cup at his 20th – and final – attempt before retirement.
Who teams up with Vauban in Flemington is less clear. Ryan Moore won on Vauban at Ascot, although his Ballydoyle bosses could end up with a runner in the race too threatening his availability.
Vauban would have added an intriguing element to this Sunday’s Curragh Leger, a race Mullins famously landed in 2016 with another dual-purpose star in Wicklow Brave.
Betting lists ahead of Tuesday’s important acceptance stage is wide open with Kyprios and Hamish, first and second a year, ago disputing 3-1 favouritism.
Kyprios hasn’t raced this season due to a setback sustained in the spring while a dry weather outlook for much of the coming week may not suit the soft-ground-loving Hamish.
With Ace Impact, Mostahdaf and German star Fantastic Moon opting to skip Saturday’s Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes, there was welcome news for the €1.25 million feature of this weekend’s action with confirmation that Nashwa will line up at Leopardstown.
The triple Group One-winning filly satisfied connections she can head to Dublin after a weekend workout in Newmarket.
Lord Grimthorpe, racing manager to Nashwa’s owner Imad Al Sagar, said: “We are positive, she did a nice little bit with Hollie [Doyle] solo on the Limekilns yesterday morning and everyone’s very happy.
“It seems the right spot to go for. She’s come out of York very well and Imad’s excited about going to Leopardstown next weekend. She’s in great shape and we’re looking forward to it.”
Ground conditions at Leopardstown are drying out with a warm weather outlook for next week too as temperatures are expected to reach 23 degrees.
King Of Steel’s position as Champion Stakes favourite solidified over the weekend and the English star is a best-priced 2-1 market leader.
And it has been confirmed that Frankie Dettori will try to win the race for a seventh time on the French raider Onesto.
The Fabrice Chappet-trained star – runner up to Luxembourg in the race a year ago – will be ridden by Dettori for the first time on Saturday. His belated first start of this season resulted in a fourth to Inspiral in last month’s ‘Maoris’ over a mile in Deauville.
