Christophe Soumillon savouring Delacroix date at Leopardstown

Christophe Soumillon is relishing the opportunity to partner Delacroix in the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.

It is nine years since the Belgian-born rider steered French raider Almanzor to victory in the Foxrock track’s Group One feature and he has high hopes of doubling his tally aboard Aidan O’Brien’s Coral-Eclipse victor on Saturday, having been called up to replace the sidelined Ryan Moore.

Soumillon said: “I’m very happy to have the chance to ride him, he’s an amazing horse so I’m very happy and excited to be on him tomorrow.

“He’s a big favourite, for sure I hope we have a great chance. He’s a nice horse, he looks one of the best in the world at the moment at this distance, so we are going to try our best.”

A disappointing run in the Derby aside, Delacroix has not done much wrong this season, winning twice over this course and distance in the spring, beating Ombudsman in an Eclipse thriller at Sandown in early July before playing second fiddle to the same rival in the Juddmonte International.

O’Brien, who has a record 12 Irish Champion Stakes wins on his CV, said: “He loves the 10 furlongs at Leopardstown, he’s got some good form there.

“York was a bit of a non-event for him but everything has gone well since then.

“You can do whatever you want on him. He’s happy to make it or sit handy or whatever.”

The second favourite behind Delacroix is the Owen Burrows-trained British raider Anmaat, who has proved last season’s shock victory in the Champion Stakes was no fluke by finishing second in both the Tattersalls Gold Cup and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes this term.

The seven-year-old has not been seen in competitive action since the latter of those efforts in June, but with conditions turning in his favour, Burrows is expecting his stable star to give a good account.

“I’m massively looking forward to it and, touch wood, he’s in proper good nick,” he said.

“Conditions should be fine and as long as it’s the easy side of good I’ll be happy. I’m really looking forward to getting him over there to try to build on his good performances so far this season.”

John Joseph Murphy’s White Birch has an even longer absence to overcome, having been off the track since finishing fourth in the Tattersalls Gold Cup in late May, but he is another horse who should be suited by the rain-softened ground.

George Murphy, assistant to his father, said: “I’m looking forward to getting him back out, he’s in super form.

“We were always expecting to miss the summer in fairness, as we didn’t want to run him on quicker ground and we eased off him and said early on we would make a plan for the autumn.

“We would have loved to have got a prep run into him but the ground didn’t allow that. We think we have him fairly straight and he’s as fit and well as we can get him – we think he’s in good shape.”

Zahrann is an interesting contender for the home team, having won three of his five starts for trainer Johnny Murtagh in the colours of the late Aga Khan.

Pat Downes, manager for the Aga Khan’s Irish studs, said: “We were delighted with him at the Curragh the last day and we said after that we were running there to see if he deserved a shot at this race and we felt he did.

“Everything has gone very well since. It’s a big step up and he needs to take it, but we certainly feel there’s more to come from him.

“I don’t think the ground will be any cause for concern, we think it will be OK but it will be the easiest ground he has run on. I can’t see any reason why he won’t cope with it.”

Japanese ace Shin Emperor was beaten just a length into third place in last year’s Irish Champion Stakes and is back for a second attempt this weekend.

His rider, Ryusei Sakai, said: “I learned a lot from the race at Leopardstown last year and I hope that experience can help us in the big race.

“He’s a straightforward horse. He led and won in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, or you can wait with him like we did here a year ago, so I think we will have options.”