French star Cirrus Des Aigles is among the 13 entries for Saturday’s Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and will run as long as the ground is not too hard.
“The owner wants to wait and see whether there is going to be any rain in Ireland, so we have left him in the race,” trainer Corine Barande-Barbe said.
“If there is plenty of rain then he will run, but if there is no rain he will not.
“If he does not run on Saturday, he will run in the Prix Dollar at Longchamp (October 5) and then the Champion Stakes at Ascot (October 19).”
Cirrus Des Aigles began the season as the world’s highest-rated racehorse but has been disappointing in four starts this year.
Barande-Barbe remains confident the seven-year-old will bounce back to his best.
“He is absolutely fine and didn’t have a hard race at Deauville last time,” she said.
“The race did not suit him and I think he thought, ‘Not today’.
“He was not blowing as much as the other horses after the race.
“He will be fine when the race suits him better. He is probably better over the mile and a quarter than he is over the mile and a half.”
Aidan O’Brien has a strong hand in the race having left in Camelot, Declaration Of War, Triumphant, Kingsbarns, Magician and Ruler Of The World.
Yorkshire Oaks winner The Fugue is an intriguing contender for John Gosden while Jim Bolger has confirmed Parish Hall and Trading Leather.
The field is completed by the Dermot Weld-trained Princess Highway and John Murphy’s likely outsider Euphrasia,
