'This has been the plan since the Galway Hurdle' - all you need to know about the €600,000 Irish Cesarewitch

Aidan O'Brien won this beefed-up prize last year with an unexposed three-year-old in the shape of Waterville, who was given a miraculous ride by Wayne Lordan, and he tries to repeat the dose with Tower Of London here. 

It is only eight days since Tower Of London finished fourth to Continuous in the St Leger at Doncaster and O'Brien has wasted no time in sending him back to work. He is an improving stayer who we probably haven't seen the best of yet and this will be his first try over a trip beyond 1m6½f. He is a brother to St Leger and Irish Derby winner Capri as well as Cypress Creek, who won over 2m, so it will be fascinating to see what he is capable of over extreme distances. 

Waterville won this off 99 last year, but Tower Of London has a mark of 110 to try to defy. He gets the three-year-old allowance but has to give plenty of weight away to some experienced and battle-hardened stayers. 

Among those who fall into that category is My Mate Mozzie, a fine third in the Galway Hurdle when we saw him last. He is now rated 144 over hurdles and his Flat mark of 92 catches the eye, especially with the talented Jamie Powell taking off a further 5lb. He was narrowly denied in last year's November Handicap off a mark of 87 when hitting the front too soon and looks sure to have a say here. 

My Mate Mozzie: third in the Galway Plate last time outCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Emmet Mullins is a master at these big-money handicaps. Teed Up won the Connacht Hotel Handicap on day one of the Galway festival and came within a head of winning the Friday feature there too. He is running off a 12lb higher mark to his winning one at Ballybrit, but he is only six so there is surely more to come and Conor Clarke claims 7lb too. 

Willie Mullins runs six and Joseph O'Brien five as both go in search of the pot of gold. 

The pick of Joseph O'Brien's team is probably Nusret, who is two from three at the Curragh and seems to love the place, but it is always hard to rule out the tough Queen Alexandra winner Dawn Rising. 

Last year's runner-up Echoes In Rain looks the pick of the Closutton crop but has a 6lb higher mark to cope with here. It is worth remembering she touched an in-running low of 1.11 before being somehow caught by Waterville. She travelled sweetly for a long way in the Gold Cup at Ascot too before her stamina gave way. 

A few sneaky ones at bigger prices are HMS Seahorse, who looked a little unlucky behind Teed Up at Galway last time, and Final Gesture, who was more than a little unlucky at the same track in a different race on her most recent outing. 

It is worth noting Waterville was the only winning favourite in the last decade and the first three-year-old to oblige since Laws Of Spin in 2016. 

Willie Mullins has won this three times since 2015 and Shane Foley rode the winner in 2018 and 2021. 

What they say 

Joseph O'Brien, trainer of Dawn Rising, Powerful Aggie, Magellan Strait, Nusret and St Vincents Garden
Dawn Rising is in good form and has got a nice draw. Nusret is good at the Curragh and over this trip. We could do with a better draw but we're hoping he can pick up some of the prize-money nonetheless. Powerful Aggie has run well in this race in the past and hopefully she can do so again. Magellan Strait has a wide draw but could pick up a bit of prize-money on the pick of his form. St Vincents Garden is an unexposed horse with a nice profile. Hopefully he can take another step forward here and, if he does, he could have an each-way chance.

Paddy Twomey, trainer of Final Gesture
She got no luck at all at Galway the last day and I think this extended trip will suit her. We're looking forward to it.

Aidan O'Brien, trainer of Tower Of London
He has a lot of weight for a three-year-old and this comes quite quickly after the St Leger, but he came out of the race at Doncaster in good shape and we thought he ran well there. He seems to be improving.

Gordon Elliott, trainer of Weston
He was disappointing at Galway, but he ran a cracker at Ascot prior to that and if he happened to return to that sort of form you'd like to think he could be in the shake-up in what looks a very hot race.

Gavin Cromwell, trainer of My Mate Mozzie
This has been the plan since the Galway Hurdle. He was just touched off in that and went close in the November Handicap at Naas last year too. He deserves to land a nice handicap at some stage given how well he's run in a few of them.

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