Below-par Ballysax indicative of falling standards in Ireland's top Flat races

Last Sunday's Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown provided a major upset with the 50-1 victory of Dallas Star, a recent recruit to the Adrian Murray team who had signed off his juvenile career by finishing third in the Zetland Stakes at Newmarket.

I confess to having given Dallas Star a somewhat disparaging mention in my column last week, implying he was not a serious contender for a Group 3 for which Aidan O'Brien had a strong hand. At that stage, the Ballydoyle trainer had eight of the ten possibles for an event he has won 11 times. He ended up running three colts but had to settle for second and third.

Whether attributable to Dallas Star being a progressive colt, or to an early-season aberration on heavy ground, the shock result can be interpreted as a very minor setback to O'Brien's campaign which, as last week's column suggested, is primarily focused on targets in Britain, France and much further afield.