Scandinavia Leads Ballydoyle Trifecta In Irish St Leger Repeat
The result stretched Aidan O'Brien's dominance of the race and extended a season in which Scandinavia has now claimed five Group or Group One races, having earlier accounted for Trawlerman in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot before beating him again in a subsequent meeting that sent the older horse into retirement. Moore said afterwards that the colt had briefly idled in front of him before being niggled back into gear, a detail that added a layer of drama to what was, on official figures, a comfortable defence of the title. The Irish St Leger, run over 1m6f on the Curragh's round course, formed the eighth and final Group One of the combined Irish Champions Weekend and Doncaster St Leger programme, and O'Brien's clean sweep of the first three places underlined the strength in depth behind his stable's leading stayer. Scandinavia's winning time of 2m 58.18s was 0.32 seconds inside standard, a swift clocking on good ground that reflected the pressure Moore eventually had to apply.
Moore Says Horse Went To Sleep
"He's a great horse. He has an unbelievable amount of stamina, a big, high-cruising stamina," Aidan O'Brien said of Scandinavia after the colt's eighth consecutive victory in the Gr.1 Irish St Leger at the Curragh on 13 September 2026. "Ryan said he really only kicks in after a mile and 6 (furlongs), which is very unusual, and the ground is probably as soft as he wants it because he's a very good mover."
The Irish St Leger was contested over 1m6f on turf at the Curragh, where Scandinavia, a 4YO colt trained by Aidan O'Brien, beat stablemate Queenstown by two lengths to collect EUR284,500.00 (US$310,105) of the winner's share. Ridden by Ryan Moore, the winner took the field of seven runners on good ground, with Jan Brueghel three-quarters of a length further back in third.
Moore's own description of the race carried a different emphasis to the trainer's confident summary of stamina and cruising speed. "I was always very happy with him and probably should have asked him for his effort a bit sooner," the jockey said. "He went to sleep on me a little bit but he's a serious stayer."
Whelan's Third On Jan Brueghel
That admission mattered because Scandinavia had travelled through the race tracking his own stable's pacesetter, Queenstown, rather than working out the trip from off the pace. Moore let him cruise into the contest before the response he wanted did not arrive as sharply as expected, forcing him to press the horse along in the straight rather than simply easing to the front.
Once Scandinavia did go through the gears, the response was enough to put the race to bed. Queenstown, sent forward under Wayne Lordan to make the running for the stable, could not go with his more decorated companion once the pressure came on, and the two lengths that separated them at the line reflected a race that had genuinely been in question rather than a formality.
Behind the principals, Jan Brueghel offered the other significant story of the afternoon. The 5YO, ridden by Ronan Whelan, finished third, three-quarters of a length behind Queenstown, having covered ground in a race that made the placings alone an incomplete guide to the effort behind them.
Three O'brien Runners, Three Placings
O'Brien had gone into the weekend with a specific explanation on hand for what had been, by his stable's own exalted standards, a quieter mid-summer than usual — an account that made the manner of Sunday's result carry more weight than the bare form figures. He said before the race that his leading horses had been fighting a low-grade infection through the warmer months, a detail that reframed the placings once the result was in.
The remark placed Jan Brueghel's run in a different light to a straightforward third-placed finish, set against a stable fielding three runners in the same race, each occupying a different position on the same afternoon's card. That distinction matters for a yard sending out a trio in a single Group One, and it recasts a routine trifecta as a result worth reading alongside the trainer's own account of the summer just gone.
Set against that backdrop, Scandinavia's serene record belongs to a stable that had been managing underlying issues across several of its principal names rather than operating at untroubled full strength.
Moore's Fifth Leger Win From Ten
Moore's success aboard Scandinavia was his fifth winning ride in the Irish St Leger from ten runnings of the race, a record that places him among the modern era's most repeat winners of the fixture.
The scale of Ballydoyle's presence in the finish was not confined to the winner. All three placed horses — Scandinavia, Queenstown and Jan Brueghel — were trained by Aidan O'Brien, while Joseph Patrick O'Brien's stable filled three of the four remaining places with Trustyourinstinct, Leinster and Tennessee Stud, finishing fourth, fifth and seventh respectively. William Haggas's Arabian Force, sixth in the hands of Tom Marquand, was the solitary British-trained runner in a seven-strong field otherwise made up entirely of O'Brien-trained horses across the two Ballydoyle operations.
That depth of representation reflected the wider shape of the weekend, on which the Irish St Leger stood as the eighth and final Group One across the combined Irish Champions Weekend and Doncaster St Leger programme. Earlier on the same card, Donnacha O'Brien's Comanche Brave won the Flying Five Stakes and Joseph O'Brien's Folsom Blues took the Vincent O'Brien National Stakes, giving the extended O'Brien training operation a significant hand across the day's principal contests.
Ballydoyle Trifecta Caps Big Day
Attention immediately turned to what comes next for the winner, with the result prompting renewed interest in his participation in the Long Distance Cup at Royal Ascot. O'Brien, however, stopped short of confirming that target, suggesting the horse's season could already be complete — a hedge rather than a settled plan.
For Ballydoyle, the afternoon delivered an all-O'Brien trifecta — Scandinavia, Queenstown and Jan Brueghel filling the first three places — to cap a big win for the stable on the day, achieved by a yard that had spent the summer managing a low-grade infection across several of its principal horses. Combined with Joseph Patrick O'Brien's three placings further down the field, the result confirmed the O'Brien training operation as the dominant force at the Curragh on a day when Ryan Moore had to press Scandinavia along rather than see out an easy lead.
Race Info
Gr.1 International Irish St. Leger (3yo+): 19:35 GST (16:35 IST) | Group One | FOR 3YO+ | Thoroughbred | Turf | 1m6f | Winning Time: 2m 58.18s (fast by 0.32s) | Rail Position: NA | Track Condition: Good | Safety Limit: NA | Track Record: NA | Prize Breakdown: 1st EUR284,500.00 (US$310,105) | 2nd EUR94,500.00 (US$103,005) | 3rd EUR44,500.00 (US$48,505) | 4th EUR19,500.00 (US$21,255) | 5th EUR9,500.00 (US$10,355) | 6th EUR4,500.00 (US$4,905) | 7th EUR-500.00
Result
Gr.1 International Irish St. Leger (3yo+): 1 Scandinavia (T: Aidan P. O'Brien / J: Ryan Moore) | 2 Queenstown (T: Aidan P. O'Brien / J: Wayne Lordan), 2l | 3 Jan Brueghel (T: Aidan P. O'Brien / J: Ronan Whelan), ¾ l | 4 Trustyourinstinct (T: Joseph Patrick O'Brien / J: Declan McDonogh), 1¾ l | 5 Leinster (T: Joseph Patrick O'Brien / J: J M Sheridan), 3¾ l | 6 Arabian Force (T: William Haggas / J: Tom Marquand), 13l | 7 Tennessee Stud (T: Joseph Patrick O'Brien / J: Colin Keane), 1¾ l