The Irish Field St Leger is the feature race at the Curragh on Saturday and all eyes will be on four-time Ascot Gold Cup winner Yeats on what could be his swansong.
Winner of this race in 2007, Yeats has been off the track since his victory at Royal Ascot back in June, but that's not necessarily a negative as he's best fresh, winning first time out five times before in a career spanning seven seasons. In that time, he's raced 22 times, winning 15 and only twice finishing outside the first three. One of those occasions came on his debut this season when finishing a lack-lustre sixth at Navan. Many people wrote him off after that performance but the genius that is Aidan O'Brien coaxed him back to his brilliant best and the rest is history.
He will be very hard to beat if in the same sort of form and Paddy Power's 9/4 would be huge if he runs to anything like his best. However, the ground makes that a big 'if'. Whilst he's won on soft ground before, he's undoubtedly better on a sound surface these days, and the current going description of 'soft with heavy patches' has to be a worry for his legion of fans. Granted, the ground is drying out all the time but it's unlikely to reach the proper good ground he needs by race time, and he's just not a betting proposition for me at current odds.
Testing ground would also be against Profound Beauty (5/1 Coral). Dermot Weld's mare has won all three of her starts this year and has the Melbourne Cup as her end-of-season objective. She would pick up a hefty penalty for that race should she be successful here and, while she'll be doing her best, I suspect Weld will have left something to work on
Godolphin's Schiaparelli is the biggest danger to Yeats, according to bookmakers - he's a clear 3/1 second favourite with William Hill - but he's not for me. Yes, he was a Group 1 winner in Germany earlier in his career, but he's looked a long way short of that class since joining the boys in blue and has been over-rated.
If the ground is genuinely soft, then ALANDI (4/1 Betfair) should be clear second favourite. Unlike Yeats, John Oxx's colt loves the mud as he showed when a Listed race in good style at Fairyhouse last time. Interestingly, he was also the winner of the Navan race in which Yeats could only finish sixth (run on good to yielding), and it's significant that Mick Kinane has decided to ride him instead of going to Doncaster to ride the fancied Mourayan in the English equivalent. If the favourite fails to shine, then I expect Alandi to be the one to capitalise, but do check the going before placing your bets.
Recommended Bet:
Alandi 2pts @ best morning-line price (no bet if ground is good to soft or faster)