Christophe Soumillon excelled aboard Delacroix, as they stormed to Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes glory at Leopardstown.
A beaten favourite in the Derby, the son of Dubawi has thrived dropped back to 10 furlongs since, flying home to land the Coral-Eclipse earlier in the summer and now bouncing back from defeat in the Juddmonte International Stakes to register his second Group One of the season.
Soumillon – deputising for the injured Ryan Moore – was in no rush aboard the 2-1 market leader, with Delacroix finding himself among a cluster of four, including Owen Burrows’ second-favourite Anmaat, White Birch and Johnny Murtagh’s well-regarded Zahrann, towards the rear of the field.
With Aidan O’Brien-trained stablemate Mount Kilimanjaro setting the fractions, the complexion of the race would swiftly change when the runners entered the straight and Soumillon received an immediate response when he asked Delacroix to improve his position, swooping quickly to the front inside the final quarter of a mile.
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Chris Hayes sent Anmaat quickly in pursuit, but Delacroix’s turn of foot had already done the damage and he came home three-quarters of a length ahead of the British raider to give O’Brien a record-extending 13th victory in the race.
Earlier, Soumillon got his Irish Champions Festival off to a dream start with an early double, following up a cool ride on Diamond Necklace in the opening Ballylinch Stud Irish EBF Ingabelle Stakes, with a straightforward success in the Group 2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes on Benvenuto Cellini.
The multi-garlanded Belgian was originally slated to ride Montreal in the first group contest of the day at Leopardstown but with the Sea The Stars two-year-old withdrawn, he switched to the son of Frankel, who went off at 1-2 favourite and won accordingly by five lengths.
It was a second career success for the chestnut, who won his maiden in Killarney after showing oceans of promise on debut when runner-up to a stablemate with a previous run, Dorset.
Diamond Necklace was also comfortable, in the end, but it might not have been comfortable viewing for those that considered 1-2 an attractive investment about the daughter of St Mark’s Basilica.
The Curragh maiden victor started slowly, which compromised her early racing position on the turning track.
It wasn’t looking very positive as they turned into the straight, as Diamond Necklace had seven lengths to make up on stablemate Venosa, who was setting very quick fractions under Declan McDonogh.
By the time Ronan Whelan sent the Jack Channon-trained Sukanya (10-1) to the front at the furlong pole however, the eye was drawn to the €1.7m Arqana purchase making ready progress under hands and heels.
In the end, she was a very ready winner, scoring by two and a quarter lengths, with the Noel Meade-trained Caught U Sleeping (16-1) bagging the bronze medal a further half-length back.
The 44-year-old, who won the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes on Almanzor in 2016, was delighted to get the call-up from O’Brien and even more so, to repay the champion trainer’s faith.
“I’m so happy,” said Soumillon. “For myself, it’s amazing. It’s never something you want for another jockey to be out of the track for a few months like Ryan is at the moment. But I’m so proud and happy to be able to replace him. He’s the best jockey in the world. We haven’t seen a guy like him since Lester Piggott and Frankie Dettori in British racing and in Ireland.
“So for me to be able to take his seat for a few weeks and months, that’s something I’ve dreamed of for a long time and now I’ve to show everyone I’m the man to take that seat.”
Johnny Murtagh loves training a winner at the Irish Champions Festival and seven-pound claimer Rory Mulligan delivered topweight Rahmi with a withering run down the outside to land the €90,000 first prize on offer in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Sovereign Handicap for owner Richard McNally and his Curragh-based conditioner.
The six-year-old was one of four contestants for Murtagh, who steered Timarida to victory in the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes 29 years ago and saddles Zahrann, one of the leading prospects in this evening’s renewal.
Despite a significant drift in the market to 14-1, Rahmi was a one-and-a-quarter-length victor over Michael Dods’ Glenfinnan (17-2), with Tribal Nation (6-1) the same distance back in third for Joseph O’Brien.
