Irish Champions Weekend: Who to Back Among the Top Trainers Irish Champions weekend will truly be something to savour and the weekend’s two-day fixture has loads of Group 1 action on offer and is well supported by some thoroughly competitive handicap action, as well as some lesser Group races. Leopardstown hosts the first card on Saturday and the Curragh takes over on Sunday. Trainers will want to be in the best form possible ahead of the weekend’s action, as there’s just shy of €5,000,000 on offer. With that in mind, we’ve picked out some in-form trainers to keep an eye on as a recent hos streak could prove to be a huge advantage. Dermot Weld Weld has long been one of Ireland's shrewdest operators and he has been in good recent form, operating at a strike-rate of 27 per cent in the last fortnight. He has won the Irish St. Leger nine times during his career, most recently in 2020. The veteran handler has also won the Matron Stakes four times, National Stakes five times and the Moyglare Stud Stakes twice. Few trainers have a CV as impressive as his and it’s an ominous sign for his rival that he arrives in good form. Donnacha O’Brien It hasn’t been the best of seasons so far for Donnacha O’Brien, but his recent form has been much more encouraging. A strike-rate of 25 per cent in the last couple of weeks is more than healthy and now is a good time to hit form. He won the Matron Stakes with the excellent mare Porta Fortuna last season and has some smart horses to go to war with this weekend. Three-year-old Comanche Brave could be of interest in the Solonoway Stakes and Balantina is an interesting outsider in the Moyglare. Willie Mullins Although primarily a Jumps trainer, it’s always a bad idea to rule out Willie Mullins and he has plenty of winners on the Flat. He’s currently operating at a strike-rate of 25 per cent, so everyone is advised to keep a close eye on any runners he has. It’s also worth noting that he has won an Irish Classic, as Wicklow Brave took out the St. Leger in 2016. He won’t be winning that race this year as he doesn’t have any entries, but the bookies will be fearing his runners elsewhere, that’s for sure! Charlie Appleby British trainer Charlie Appleby has a knack for maintaining very good strike-rates over long periods of time and he’s currently operating at 40 per cent. Four of his 10 runners have been winners and any horses he sends over for the juvenile Group 1s need to be noted. Appleby has a very good recent record in the National Stakes in particular, having won three of the last seven renewals. There’s no doubt that the unbeaten Saba Desert will be well fancied to add to that tally should he make the line up. Is Aidan O’Brien out of form? Last weekend’s Arc trials at Longchamp were catastrophic for the Ballydoyle team and their recent strike-rate of 13 per cent is lower than usual. That would be concerning with regards to most trainers but you can’t write off Aidan O’Brien, as he always proves the doubters wrong. He has won the six Group 1 races on Irish Champions Weekend a combined total of 47 times, with successes in the double figures in the Irish Champion Stakes, Moyglare Stud and National Stakes.
