Racing

Dettori misses out on chance to partner Bondi Beach in St Leger

Earlier start time for Irish Champion Stakes sees jockey commit to Golden Horn

Frankie Dettori and Golden Horn: “Frankie’s had a good run with John Gosden and Golden Horn is the best ride he’s got all year,” says the jockey’s agent Ray Cochrane. Photograph: PA Wire.
Frankie Dettori and Golden Horn: “Frankie’s had a good run with John Gosden and Golden Horn is the best ride he’s got all year,” says the jockey’s agent Ray Cochrane. Photograph: PA Wire.
Fri Sept 11 2015 - 08:33

Frankie Dettori will miss the ride on Aidan O'Brien's St Leger favourite Bondi Beach at Doncaster due to the start time for Saturday's Irish Champion Stakes being brought forward.

With the St Leger due to start at 3.45pm Dettori had hoped to then fly by helicopter to Leopardstown to partner Golden Horn in the Irish Champion Stakes which was due off at 6.50.

But the Leopardstown feature has been brought forward 65 minutes to 5.45 because of concerns over the ground. Golden Horn and O’Brien’s Gleneagles head a star field of eight horses declared for the Leopardstown races.

To ensure the Champion Stakes will be run on the best possible ground, it will now be the fifth event of the card, having originally been scheduled as race seven. The feature will be the first race to be run on fresh ground on the outside track, while the first four contests are on the inside course.

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Rain is forecast overnight on Friday, but Saturday is expected to be dry. Nessa Joyce, Leopardstown’s racing and operations manager, explained the reasoning behind the changes to the programme. “We’re trying to do as much as we can for our Group One races to give them the best ground,” she said.

Dettori's agent Ray Cochrane said: "We can only go one place. There's not sufficient time to ride in both races. There is, but you'd be putting people through a lot of sweat, so we're going straight to Leopardstown.

"There's nothing any of us can do about the weather. We want to do the best for the people we're riding for. It's as simple as that. Now they've changed it by bringing it forward there's no point thinking of trying to do both. Frankie's had a good run with John Gosden and Golden Horn is the best ride he's got all year."

In Dettori’s absence, William Buick, who rides predominantly for Godolphin, has been booked to ride Bondi Beach in the season’s final Classic. Ballydoyle jockey Colm O’Donoghue will partner stablemate Order Of St George, while title-chasing Brazilian Silvestre de Sousa will get the leg up on Fields Of Athenry, the third O’Brien runner at Doncaster.