Meet three impressive winners to follow after weekend's racing at Leopardstown and Limerick We got to enjoy some excellent racing over the weekend and that was highlighted by Saturday’s Champions’ Day at Royal Ascot, whilst there was also the small matter of an Aidan O’Brien six-timer at Leopardstown. We also had some thoroughly competitive jumping action from Limerick and there were a couple of tasty Listed races on the card. Here we take a look at three eye-catching Irish winners who could be worth keeping an eye on in the future. Amelia Earhart (Leopardstown) It probably took Amelia Earhart longer to get off the mark than most people expected, but she managed to put it all together and get off the mark as one of O’Brien’s six winners at Leopardstown on Saturday, where she was the first horse on the card to oblige. Her nine rivals had no answer and she went on to score by an impressive margin of seven lengths. Jack Cleary was on board and he reported that she felt a little green when he last rode her, so this was a much more professional performance. There’s loads of stamina in her pedigree so middle-distance races should bring out the best in her next year. Surely Classic trials will be on the agenda next season and on the evidence of her latest performance, the daughter of Camelot should be winning one. Christmas Day (Leopardstown) The lightly raced Christmas Day looked fairly average in his first couple of starts, but he battled well to get off the mark in a heavy ground maiden at Gowran last month. One look at his pedigree will tell you that he would improve for a step up in trip. Needing every yard of the 1m1f trip to come out on top, he nabbed runner-up A Boy Named Susie on the line to win the Group 3 Eyrefield Stakes. It was the first of two Group 3 wins on the card for trainer O’Brien, who also trained third and fourth. If he comes out of the race well, perhaps the Criterium de Saint Cloud could be on the agenda in the short term. The 1m2f Group 1 is a race that O’Brien often targets, last winning it with Los Angeles in 2023, and he will have no issue with the trip. He could be a St Leger candidate next year and you would imagine 1m4f will be an absolute minimum trip for him next season. It remains to be seen if he will be good enough for races like the Derby, but he should be capable of winning some nice races at three. Shadow Paddy (Limerick) The vast majority of Listed novice hurdles in Ireland go to the big names such as Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, so it was refreshing to see Eoin McCarthy claim the Tote Guarantee, Never Beaten By SP Novice Hurdle at Limerick on Saturday. McCarthy made a big splash at the Listowel Harvest Festival last month with six winners, one of which was Shadow Paddy. He was sent off at 5/4 for Limerick’s Listed contest on Saturday and duly obliged with a comfortable success. Shadow Paddy has now won four of his last six starts and it was definitely a career-best performance on Saturday. You can’t rule out further improvement and perhaps a return to handicaps may prove fruitful next time, as this horse should have another decent pot in him.
