Marten Julian’s Weekly Roundup 17 September 2024

I was possibly being a little harsh when I described the St Leger field as a bunch of plodders in my Weekend Card preview, but with the first four covered by a length and three-quarters there was no clear-cut winner.

Jan Brueghel, who edged out Illinois to win by a neck, had come into the race unbeaten in three starts and, having been unraced at two, with the scope to improve.

Beforehand I had expressed concerns about his lack of Group 1 experience and his high head carriage, but this was less pronounced on Saturday and there was no questioning his attitude.

Illinois ran much in the manner I had anticipated, handy throughout but not quite having the gears to see off the winner.

I had expected Sunway to show something akin to a turn of foot but he was very one paced in the closing stages, while Grosvenor Square did not have anything like as much use made of him as he had when winning the Group 3 at the Curragh in August.

You Got To Me compromised her chance by refusing to settle in the early stages, but I had my doubts about her staying the trip anyway and I don’t expect to see her running over this distance again.

After the race Aidan O’Brien spoke of Jan Brueghel as a Gold Cup prospect for next year but in the more immediate future he may be prepared for the Melbourne Cup.

Moving to Ireland and a lot had been written and said about Economics, who was on a hiding to nothing in the Irish Champion Stakes.

The son of Night Of Thunder has been the subject of almost as much copy as City Of Troy, but he went a long way to justifying the plaudits with a tenacious display in the immensely valuable Irish Champion Stakes.

The fear beforehand was that he would lack the experience to handle older rivals with Group 1 form, but he dug deep to force his way through a narrow gap and beat Auguste Rodin by a hard-fought neck.

Economics is out of La Pomme D’Amour, a daughter of Peintre Celebre who twice won a Group 2 at Deauville over an extended 1m 4f, and judging by this display, I can quite easily see the colt appreciating a step up from Saturday’s mile and a quarter.

This race was important for connections, as it was sponsored by the royal family of Bahrain and owner Shaikh Isa is the grandson of the King.

Of the others Shin Emperor and Los Angeles did strong late work to finish third and fourth. The former has the Arc as his next target, but he would require good ground or quicker to show his form.

Los Angeles enhanced his reputation with this strong effort and having twice won at Group 1 level he has the physique to build on that if he stays in training next season. He could turn out to be the best of these.

My selection Ghostwriter ran well in fifth, just two lengths behind the winner, but he left the impression he might have been feeling his hard races.

I’ll be back next week with more thoughts.

Bye for now

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