Aidan O'Brien drops bombshell - then watches Scandinavia, Sun Goddess and sons Joseph and Donnacha make it a Group 1 Sunday to remember

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Day two of the Irish Champions Festival started with a bombshell being dropped. Aidan O'Brien informed us that his string was sick and let's just say the timing wasn't great given Scandinavia, Sun Goddess and nine others were about to run on one of the biggest days of the whole year. 

The clues were there. Constitution River, the horse who was supposed to run through a brick wall, hit that same wall and stopped inside the final furlong of the Irish Champion Stakes; Diamond Necklace lost her unbeaten record when 2-5 at Deauville; Gstaad was only third in the Moulin when odds-on; and, even the other night at Galway, City Of Gold was somehow beaten at 4-7 having looked home and hosed 100 yards from the line. 

And, then, there was Christmas Day. The Derby winner, who looked like he would gallop forever at Epsom, stumbled home in the St Leger. Punch drunk.