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Gary Carson

Gary Carson

George in different league to Leger rivals

Sun 10th Sep 2017, 17:26

Order Of St George Order Of St George
© Photo Healy Racing

Order Of St George blew away his opposition to reclaim the Comer Group International Irish St Leger in great style at the Curragh this afternoon.

Ryan Moore made a decisive move turning for home on the brilliant stayer and he kicked clear of his field three furlongs from home in the season's final classic.

The five-year-old kept up an unrelenting gallop all the way to the line to record a stunning nine-length victory in the feature event on day two of the Champions Weekend.

Aidan O'Brien 's charge had suffered a surprise defeat in the race 12 months ago but there was no danger of a repeat this time as the 2/5 favourite proved a different class to his opposition.

It was much more like his 2015 victory when he had recorded an easy 11-length win. Torcedor came through to claim the runner-up spot while English raider Mount Moriah took third ahead of last year's hero Wicklow Brave

“I'm delighted with him. We know he stays and handles soft ground. He went there strong today,” said O'Brien.

“His options would be the Melbourne Cup or the Arc. He'd be very comfortable over a mile-and-a-half if there is an ease in the ground.

“Ryan let him relax. He moved up just to move up a little bit and he locked on to him. He just said he kicked into gear and he didn't want to disappoint him then.”

Moore added:- “He's a brilliant horse. He has an awful lot of ability and was able to express that today.”

The attendance for today's meeting was 5,370, which is a drop of 3,885 on last year's total of 9,255.

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.