Oisin Murphy stars again as he delivers Roaring Lion with perfect timing to thwart Saxon Warrior and Ryan Moore
Roaring Lion completes his Group 1 hattrick in Irish Champion Stakes
THERE'S no stopping Roaring Lion and Oisin Murphy.
The pair combined to devastating effect once again, this time thwarting Ryan Moore and Saxon Warrior to land the Irish Champion Stakes.
It was Roaring Lion's third Group 1 on the trot, as he followed his Eclipse and Juddmonte International wins with a race to remember at Leopardstown.
Deauville took the seven-strong field along at the perfect Ballydoyle fractions throughout.
As they entered the home straight, Ryan Moore sensed it was time and kicked on on Saxon Warrior.
Oisin Murphy kept his cool when most would have faltered, and trusted his mount to get them home.
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It paid off as they chased down the 2000 Guineas winner only metres from the line, again demonstrating his lethal turn of foot for all to see.
Murphy said afterwards: "He was outstanding. He took off late on and really stamped his authority on the rest of them.
"Going a slow pace is fine but the complexion of the race kept changing. We knew it was going to be tactical, but that was more than we expected."
Owner Sheikh Fahad al Thani said: “He’ll probably go for the Champion Stakes at Ascot next. We have made no decision yet about staying in training next year, and it is something I will have to talk over with my brothers”
Earlier on the card, Laurens dealt another blow to the home team as she ran out a gutsy winner of the Group 1 Matron Stakes.
She cut out the running under Danny Tudhope and superstar filly Alpha Centauri could only stay on for second.
However, she looked to be coming with a winning run but took a couple of false steps and vets revealed after the race that she was "clinically abnormal".
Trainer Karl Burke was thrilled with Laurens' victory and hailed the race as the best result of his career.
He said: "That was some performance and probably the highlight of my career so far. John (Dance, owner) was keen to come here and the reason we put her in was it was the only Group 1 fillies-only prep run leading into the Prix de l'Opera.
"After the Yorkshire Oaks, we were adamant that she didn't stay. We weren't going to complicate things so she made the running and made use of her long stride, which is her biggest asset. We didn't want to be dictated by any team tactics and we wanted to dictate to them.
"She has a huge engine and a huge stride, and we said we might kick a furlong earlier than they would expect us to.
"I would be very surprised if John doesn't want to go for the Sun Chariot now rather than the Opera. We would be keen to win another UK Group 1 if we can."