Global Weekly Review

On a massive weekend of top class racing worldwide, the stunning success of Astern in Saturday's G1 Golden Rose in Sydney yet again underlined the value of the stallion Medaglia d'Oro to the international Godolphin/Darley operation.

Trainer John O'Shea was straight to the point: "Medalglia d'Oro is a super sire. I have been singing his praises since day one. He is outstanding."

In his role as Godolphin trainer, O'Shea is now seeing some of the stallion's best-bred progeny coming through the ranks, and with the high quality mares Medaglia d'Oro has continued to serve, those numbers are set to increase.

"They can sprint, they can stay, they go in the wet, and dry, and he gets both fillies and colts. I would describe him as a trainer's stallion," O'Shea said.

"His progeny have such a good attitude to their racing. Astern is probably a little bit more excitable than some. But he's a very special colt, and he knows he's special. He's very genuine," he added.

O'Shea then surprised by reporting that Astern had put on weight since his Golden Rose triumph at Rosehill. "He's actually put on 4 kilos. We took him straight back to the farm, where he is turned out in the paddock during the day," he explained.

With a Melbourne campaign ahead of him, Astern can look forward to establishing his dominance in two Australian states in coming weeks. His immediate major target is the G1 Caulfield Guineas, over 1,600m on October 8, though long-term O'Shea can see the colt reverting to sprint distances.

In Europe, two Classics were run, a series of Arc trials took place, and the Irish Champions weekend held the spotlight in Ireland, at Leopardstown and the Curragh.

The Leopardstown card was true championship stuff, with race after race producing thrilling finishes and results that are guaranteed to be the basis for the international rankings, to be finalised in Hong Kong in December.

The Jean-Claude Rouget-trained Almanzor produced a dazzling turn-of-foot to win the G1 Irish Champion Stakes, which featured arguably the strongest field at this level in more than a decade.

But the Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) colt is now more likely to run in the English version of the Champion Stakes at Ascot than take his chance in the Arc, though no final decision has been taken.

Japanese Derby winner Makahiki took the G2 Prix Niel at Chantilly, raising hopes that a victory for Japan in the Arc on October 2 could finally become reality.

Silverwave landed the G2 Prix Foy though the win was nothing out of the ordinary, while in the G1 Prix Vermeille, Left Hand prevailed over Godolphin's Endless Time, who was brilliant in 'toughing' it out in the final 200m.

In one more piece of the Arc jigsaw, Order Of St George suffered a shock defeat in the G1 Irish St Leger, paving the way for the Willie Mullins-trained Wicklow Brave to win by half a length.