8 in line for Champion Stakes glory Al Kazeem is among eight declarations for the Irish Champion Stakes, although rain is sure to influence the final line-up. The five-year-old had been due to bypass the 10-furlong feature in favour of a trip to France on Sunday week but the weather forecast has prompted a potential change in plan by Charlton and owner John Deer. Al Kazeem suffered his first defeat of this campaign when beaten into third by Declaration Of War in the Juddmonte International at York last month and the pair could clash again. While officials at Leopardstown would love to host a second encounter between the pair, clerk of the course Lorcan Wyer admits it would appear an unlikely event as each horse requires different conditions. "We're not sure exactly how much (rain the track will get), but they are talking from Friday midnight through to the early part of Saturday. We are maybe looking at 15 or 20 millimetres of rain," he told At The Races. "I can't tell you what the going is going to be on Saturday, but we are good to firm at the moment and I think the whole team has produced gorgeous racing ground, it's beautiful. "We're kind of keeping all the plates spinning in the air at the moment. We stopped watering on Tuesday given the fact of rain coming in. "I dare say if you came and walked the track on Friday night in advance of the rain, you might find it may be quicker than ideal for some horses, so we are playing poker a little bit at the moment. "If the rain comes, looking on the positive side, 20mm is not coming in the space of an hour and a half, it's 20mm over a sustained period of time, maybe two or three millimetres per hour. If that's the case, the track is in fabulous condition and is well able to take that volume of rain. "To give a guide to how it may go, I'd say it may be no worse than yielding or good to soft, but that's an estimated guess. "Unfortunately, it may be slow enough for Al Kazeem, but if it's slow enough for him, it will be too slow for Declaration Of War. "We would love to have them all here, but that's unlikely. "If the forecast changes dramatically, we are well positioned as we put approximately 12mm on the track on Monday and Tuesday. The track will be well receptive to maybe selected light watering, just to ensure there's no jar in the ground." Declaration Of War has been declared along with stablemate Kingsbarns, while other big names in the line-up include Trading Leather and The Fugue. Completing the field are Euphrasia, Parish Hall and Princess Highway. Joseph O'Brien has been booked to ride Declaration Of War with Seamie Heffernan down to ride Kingsbarns.
