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Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes (Group 1)

17:00 Leopardstown Sat 12 Sep 2026 1m2f0y Class 1 Good 8 runners

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Mr Fox’s call

Constitution River silks

Constitution River

SPECULATIVE Advised 11/8 Est. 38%

🥉 3RD

Mr Fox says

Constitution River (SR:139, 11/8) is the highest-rated horse in the field by a clear margin over Item (SR:136) and Almaqam (SR:134), and carries the lightest weight in the field at 9-3 as a 3-year-old, a significant advantage over older rivals at this trip. The form string 1-1113 — three wins and a third in a Group 1 — is consistent at the highest level, and Ryan Moore's booking (24% career strike rate, 1,011 runners) is the strongest jockey-trainer combination in this field, with A P O'Brien at 23% career strike rate over 1,234 runners. The market has shortened 8% since opening, confirming stable confidence, and Moore is clearly the yard's #1 pick from three O'Brien runners given Lambourn takes Declan McDonogh and Hawk Mountain takes Boudot. The sole concern is DistFit:? — insufficient sample at 1m2f — but at Group 1 level a horse of this ability with Ryan Moore aboard is trusted to see out the trip on good ground. Each-way alternative: Almaqam. Main danger: Item — Item (SR:136, 2/1) arrives as market favourite with form 1-1911 — two wins flanking a messy middle sequence that likely reflects a bad run rather than regression — and Colin Keane at 16% strike rate for Andrew Balding (18%, 2,933 runners) is a powerful combination, though GoingFit:? and DistFit:? introduce more uncertainty than Constitution River carries.

Verify· #17444

Full result

Winner: Hotazhell (GB) at SP 50/1. Mr Fox’s picks highlighted in gold.

  1. 1 Hotazhell silks Hotazhell Mrs John Harrington · Shane Foley 33/1
  2. 2 Wimbledon Hawkeye silks Wimbledon Hawkeye George Scott · Christophe Soumillon 28/1
  3. 3 Constitution River silks Constitution River Fox #1 A P O'Brien · Ryan Moore 6/4
  4. 4 Almaqam silks Almaqam Fox #3 Ed Walker · Kieran Shoemark 9/2
  5. 5 A Boy Named Susie silks A Boy Named Susie Fox #4 Donnacha Aidan O'Brien · Oisin Murphy 9/1
  6. 6 Item silks Item Fox #2 Andrew Balding · Colin Keane 2/1
  7. 7 Hawk Mountain silks Hawk Mountain A P O'Brien · Pierre-Charles Boudot 25/1
  8. 8 Lambourn silks Lambourn A P O'Brien · Declan McDonogh 33/1

Top 4 — how each finished

  1. 1 Constitution River silks Constitution River 11/8 🥉 3RD
  2. 2 Item silks Item 2/1 6TH
  3. 3 Almaqam silks Almaqam 9/2 🏁 4TH
  4. 4 A Boy Named Susie silks A Boy Named Susie 17/2 5TH