Christophe Soumillon excelled aboard Delacroix, as they stormed to Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes glory at Leopardstown.
A beaten favourite in the Derby, the son of Dubawi has thrived dropped back to 10 furlongs since, flying home to land the Coral-Eclipse earlier in the summer and now bouncing back from defeat in the Juddmonte International Stakes to register his second Group One of the season.
Soumillon – deputising for the injured Ryan Moore – was in no rush aboard the 2-1 market leader, with Delacroix finding himself among a cluster of four, including Owen Burrows’ second-favourite Anmaat, White Birch and Johnny Murtagh’s well-regarded Zahrann, towards the rear of the field.
With Aidan O’Brien-trained stablemate Mount Kilimanjaro setting the fractions, the complexion of the race would swiftly change when the runners entered the straight and Soumillon received an immediate response when he asked Delacroix to improve his position, swooping quickly to the front inside the final quarter of a mile.
Chris Hayes sent Anmaat quickly in pursuit, but Delacroix’s turn of foot had already done the damage and he came home three-quarters of a length ahead of the British raider to give O’Brien a record-extending 13th victory in the race.
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