Profound Beauty Holds Weld Hopes for St Leger
Rite Of Passage, the pre-post favourite for the Irish St Leger, will not be a starter on Saturday in the Curragh feature event after an unsatisfactory outing on the gallops.
Dermot Weld
Stable mate Profound Beauty will now be the event favourite, after Rite of Passage disappointed trainer Dermot Weld with his work.
“Rite Of Passage, ridden by Pat Smullen, worked over 10 furlongs this morning,” Weld said. “I wasn’t 100 percent happy with him, so he will not be running in the Irish St Leger.
“Profound Beauty is very well and will run in the race, providing we don’t get a lot more heavy rain.”
Rite Of Passage defeated Age Of Aquarius in the Ascot Gold Cup in June by a neck and has not been seen on the track since.
Commenting on his charge’s chances for the Melbourne Cup, Weld said, “The fact that Rite Of Passage is out of the Irish St Leger does not mean that he will miss the Melbourne Cup. We will review the situation in a few weeks’ time, but he won the Ascot Gold Cup without a prep race and there is no reason why he would have to have a prep race for Flemington.”
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