PartialLogo
Previews

Gold Cup hero Order Of St George reappears in Group 3 feature

Order Of St George: Ascot Gold Cup winner beat Twilight Payment in the Irish St Leger Trial last year
Order Of St George: Ascot Gold Cup winner beat Twilight Payment in the Irish St Leger Trial last yearCredit: Caroline Norris

4.25 Navan

Coolmore Vintage Crop Stakes (Group 3) | 1m6f | 4yo+| ATR

Order Of St George, last year's Gold Cup winner who again has that Group 1 event as his first main target this season, starts his campaign against seven rivals in this event which is named after Dermot Weld's history-making stayer of the 1990s.

The race numbers many Group 1 winners amongst its past winners, including Yeats (twice), Fame And Glory (twice) and Leading Light who all won the event for Ballydoyle, while Voleuse De Coeurs, Alandi and Kastoria also landed the prize.

A dual Group 1 winner who finished third in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October, Order Of St George will be attempting to give Seamie Heffernan a fourth win in the event.

Speaking on Saturday, Aidan O'Brien said: "Order Of St George has been doing everything nicely at home and is ready to start. He's in good form."

Forgotten Rules, who won the race for Weld in 2015, has not won since and will be blinkered for the first time today. He finished third behind Torcedor and Twilight Payment, rivals again today, on his reappearance over the same distance at Leopardstown earlier this month.

Weld said: "The blinkers are on to help him concentrate. He's well and always runs a good race but it will be tough against Order Of St George and we don't want the ground to dry out any more"

Torcedor was having his first run for Jessica Harrington when winning the Leopardstown event by five and a half lengths having had a wind operation since leaving David Wachman last year.

Harrington said on Saturday: "We were delighted with him at Leopardstown but this will be a big step up in class. He appears to be in good form and we'll see how he fits into the scheme of things."

Red Stars, whose trainer John Oxx has won the race four times, will be tackling the trip for the first time as will the Ger Lyons-trained Lustrous Light. The versatile Morga, trained by Dessie McDonogh, and the Michael Mulvany-trained Dew Line complete the line-up.

Tony O'HehirRacing Post Reporter

Published on 22 April 2017inPreviews

Last updated 10:03, 23 April 2017

iconCopy