Horse Racing Tips: Ruby Walsh's Irish Champions Festival Preview

*Odds quoted on the widget are Future Racing / Antepost prices which means that if your selection does not run in the race for whatever reason – you will lose your stake under traditional Antepost rules.

Irish Champions Stakes

Maybe I have LUXEMBOURG on too high a pedestal in my own mind and I’m being a bit harsh on him form-wise, but he was all the rage to beat Coroebus in the 2,000 Guineas last year. There was plenty of talk about him, he was supposed to be this, that and the other! Granted, he met a setback on the day, then beat Insinuendo at the Curragh before Aidan O’Brien worked wonders to win the Irish Champion Stakes with him 12 months ago, beating Onesto.

He didn’t stay the 1m 4f trip in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe but was a beaten favourite on reappearance this season when Declan McDonagh gave Visualisation a great ride to deny him at the Curragh in a slowly-run race. Then he beat Bay Bridge and Vadeni on Guineas weekend at the Co. Kilare track before getting run over by Mostahdaf at Royal Ascot.

The fact he got beaten six lengths by Mostahdaf after getting what looked like the run of the race left me a little deflated. He then ran disappointingly in the King George VI at the same track.

He’s coming into the Irish Champion Stakes on the back of two poor runs and maybe I’m being too hard on him and maybe he is still very good, but to me he hasn’t lived up to the hype.

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Irish National Stakes

CITY OF TROY would probably be nearly retired if I owned him as he’s an unbeaten two-year-old. But he does look to have the potential to be a superstar. I would do Aidan O’Brien wanted to do with him. if I owned him.

There isn’t much point in paying the trainer and then deciding what you want to do yourself. If you get a horse of that standard, and you send him to any of the top four or five Flat trainers in the world – are you really going to start bossing them around?

There’s a reason they’re successful.

If you’ve got a few very good horses you always need to split their races to keep all their repuatations intact. You have to start thinking about a Breeders’ Cup for one maybe and you certanly don’t want them all to clash in the Dewhurst Stakes. You can’t bring them all to Doncaster for the Racing Post Trophy or to France on Prix de ‘Arc de Triomphe day so you’ve got to start thinking outside the box.