'I think he's my best chance' - Johnny Murtagh reveals his team for Irish Champions Festival

Not since 2019 has Johnny Murtagh left Irish Champions Festival empty-handed and the trainer has nominated Take Heart as his best chance of a winner next weekend in the Northfields Handicap at the Curragh, a €150,000 event in which he sent out the 1-2-3 last year. 

Kerkiyra led home stablemates Safecracker and Flying Dolphin in the 1m2f contest last year, while Sonnyboyliston provided Murtagh with one of the biggest wins of his training career when landing the Irish St Leger in 2021. The same horse won the Northfields Handicap in 2020 on the same weekend as Champers Elysees swooped late to land the Matron Stakes. 

It is fair to say the biggest weekend in the Irish Flat racing calendar has been kind to Murtagh of late and he is hoping the progressive Take Heart, a winner of two of his last three starts, will continue his impressive record at the two-day festival. 

Murtagh said: "The Irish Champions Festival is a big weekend and I need to have horses competing at it. It's on the world stage and that's where you need to be. Champers Elysees winning the Matron was huge for us. It's where I want to be as a trainer. It's hard and it's getting harder every year. At the start of the year you're pencilling in horses who might be good enough to run at the Irish Champions Festival. 

"Take Heart is a nice horse. I think he’s rated 90, he’s a three-year-old who might sneak in at the bottom of it. I think he might be my best chance, he’s really going well at the moment."

No jockey has ridden more winners of the Coolmore America 'Justify' Matron Stakes than Murtagh thanks to Timarida (1995), Soviet Song (2004) and Lillie Langtry (2010), while he trained the winner of it in 2020 courtesy of the aforementioned Champers Elysees. 

This time around Murtagh will be represented by Cadeau Belle who will try to take down the mighty Tahiyra, despite suffering her first defeat in a Group 3 at Ascot last time. 

The trainer said: "I’m not sure what happened to her last time. I really fancied her going to Ascot. Jamie Spencer said she was too keen and boiled over at the start. She has a hood on now so I think we might go for the Matron. I know it’s going to be a good race, but it’s the kind of race I had in mind all the time. We will probably let her take her chance there. She’s been working well again, the hood is on and that should help her relax."

The speedy Ladies Church will also be on the team in the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Flying Five Stakes and Murtagh hopes she can put a below-par effort in the Nunthorpe behind her. 

He said: "I ran her on soft ground twice this year and she didn’t really like it. I fancied her a little bit going to York last week but they went so fast she never really got on the bridle. She will go for the Flying Five."

Mashhoor: pencilled in for Paddy Power StakesCredit: Patrick McCann

Mashhoor has been a revelation this season, winning three on the bounce including the Group 3 International Stakes on Irish Derby weekend when he proved too good for Al Riffa and he will go for the Paddy Power Stakes at Leopardstown back over a mile and a half. 

Murtagh said: "He has a 3lb penalty and I know it will be tough, but he’s in good form and came out of the race at York really well."

One of the most heartwarming stories of the season emerged from Cork on Wednesday when Wesley Joyce got back among the winners after a fall at Galway last summer that threatened to not only end his career, but his life. 

Joyce is now based with Murtagh and the trainer paid tribute to the 20-year-old's grit and determination. He said: "If you saw him the first day he came back in here, he was about 5st and I didn't really think he'd get back. 

"He couldn't speak and he was weak. But after a couple of weeks, as soon as he got back riding out, he kept on progressing. The main thing for me was whether he had lost his nerve or not. Did he still have it? For the last few weeks he's been flying. 

"All you have to do with these young lads is put a bit of belief in them and tell them how good they are."

Read these next:

'His Irish record consists of a string of 1s' - five Flat stars pencilled in for the Irish Champions Festival next weekend 

'His work has been brilliant' - dual Derby hero Auguste Rodin set for redemption mission at Leopardstown 

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