The Curragh will stage the final Irish Classic race of the season, as the 2025 Irish Champions Festival gets underway in under three weeks’ time.
This unique event runs over two courses, with Leopardstown hosting day one, before The Curragh hosts day two.
The Irish St Leger is the final Irish Classic race of the season and it highlights a weekend in which six Group One races are due to run.
A distance of a mile and six furlongs is all that stands between runners, as they look to cement themselves into history and win a share of prize money worth 500,000 euros.
This year’s renewal will see leading Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien saddle the first two in the ante-post market, as he goes for back-to-back wins in the race.
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Jan Brueghel
Coronation Cup winner Jan Brueghel heads the field at 9/4, but he hasn’t been seen since finishing a disappointing fourth in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, at Royal Ascot.
His other run this campaign was on seasonal reappearance, where he finished second in a Group Three at this course.
He is looking to emulate his successes from this weekend last year, in which he won the St Leger at Doncaster.
It capped off a three-year-old season that birthed a perfect (4/4) record, including two other Group race victories.
Illinois
The horse that Jan Brueghel defeated in last year’s St Leger was stablemate Illinois, who is the other O’Brien runner at the top of the betting.
Since winning last season’s Queen Vase at Royal Ascot, Illinois has gone on to finish inside the top two in all seven of his subsequent races.
He ended last season with a French Group Two victory, before beginning this year with a win in the Ormonde Stakes, at the Chester Festival.
His two other runs this season have ended in second-placed efforts behind star-stayer Trawlerman and stablemate Scandinavia, also the favourite for the St Leger.
The former came in the Royal Ascot Gold Cup, whilst the latter was in the Goodwood Cup. at Glorious Goodwood.
When asked about his yard’s chances, O’Brien said: “I think Illinois and Jan Brueghel will take each other on, the lads are very happy for that to happen.
“We might not have seen the best of Illinois yet because the Gold Cup was a bit hard on him and his preparation up to it might not have been brilliant.
“He might have felt that a little bit in Goodwood, but we think he’s in a good place again.
“It might take until next year to get him right back.
“Jan Brueghel, we absolutely made a hash of it in the King George but he’s very well.
“Obviously he’s very idle in front, he needs something to be running at but he stays very well and he’s in good shape.”
Sober
The chief threat to the Ballydoyle duo comes in the shape of two-time French Group Two winner Sober (4/1), now trained by renowned Irish Champion Trainer Willie Mullins.
If running here, it would be only his third run for Mullins, with both of the previous two resulting in wins.
The six-year-old gelding made a winning start for his new trainer on his hurdles debut, which came after a year off the track and on his first run outside of France.
He then reverted to the flat and won a Class Two Handicap at Royal Ascot, back in June.
Sober is one of two fancied runners representing team Mullins, with the Ebor seventh Hipop De Loire also in the market, at 12/1.
The gelding had been campaigned exclusively in Poland for two years before brief flirtations with Germany and a year off the track.
Last year’s fifth-placed effort in the Ebor was only his second run for Mullins and he underwent the same preparations – though this time winning at Galway.
This year’s Ebor run was only his fifth for Mullins; it saw him back on the flat for the first time since finishing fourth in a Listed race at Roscommon.
Joseph Patrick O’Brien’s Runners
Trainer Joseph Patrick O’Brien, similarly to his father and Mullins, also has a pair of runners priced on the shorter end of the market.
The first of which is Al Riffa, who won his first Group One at this course back in 2022, on his third racecourse start.
Since then his highlights have been finishing second to City Of Troy in the 2024 Coral-Eclipse and winning a German Group One on his next outing.
He will arrive back at The Curragh off the back winning a Group Two contest there, in July.
That run followed a second-placed effort behind Godolphin-owned Rebels Romance in the Hardwicke Stakes, and runs at Longchamp and Riyadh – where he finished fourth and third in a Group One and Group Two race, respectively.
Al Riffa is at 5/1 in the market, whilst his stable-companion Trustyourinstinct is at 6/1.
The latter has won his last two starts, which were in Listed and Group Three company and both came at this course.
Amiloc
Trainer Ralph Beckett boasts the shortest-priced entry trained in Britain, it comes in the shape of the undefeated Amiloc.
Two wins on Kempton’s all-weather course last year, were the beginning of a five race career in which the gelding is yet to taste defeat.
His three runs this year have birthed wins in a Listed race, as well as a Group Two victory at Royal Ascot.
Though he has since suffered an injury, he will arrive a force to be reckoned with, his trainer said: “He’s in the Irish St Leger and there’s a lot of stuff in the autumn for him as well, and we’ll aim him in that direction.
“He’ll tell me when he’s ready.”
The 2025 Irish St Leger is due off at 4:25pm, on Sunday, September 14, and Racing TV will broadcast the action live, for their subscribers only.
Bookmakers, both online and on the high-street will show every race live, though you will likely have to place a bet in order to watch the race.
By Callum Close
READ MORE: St Leger Festival 2025 – St Leger analysis and preview
