Tipperary-based trainer Aidan O'Brien has his eyes on the prizes at Irish Champions Festival

Long-time favourite Economics, Japanese raider Shin Emperor and Aidan O'Brien’s Auguste Rodin and Los Angeles are among the 12 horses standing their ground for the Group 1 Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes on the opening day of horse racing's Irish Champions Festival at Leopardstown on Saturday, a World Pool event for all nine races. 

Ten years on from the first of his five wins in the race on Kevin Ryan’s The Grey Gatsby, Ryan Moore will have the pick of Aidan O'Brien’s remaining team of five.

Auguste Rodin gave the champion trainer his twelfth win in the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes a year ago and he looks a likely runner once again, along with Los Angeles, which backed up his Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby success at the Curragh in June with a win at York last month.

The other Ballydoyle contenders are the 2022 winner and last year’s runner-up Luxembourg, Continuous and Hans Andersen.

The winner of the Group 2 Alpha Centauri Debutante Stakes at the Curragh last month, the Aidan O'Brien-trained Bedtime Story bids to stretch out her unbeaten record to five in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes on the second day of the festival on Sunday. O'Brien dominates the entries with six of the remaining eight, with the Group 3 winner Lake Victoria among them.

Ger Lyons has left in Red Letter while trainer Ollie Sangster has added Simmering, a Group 2 winner when ridden by Dylan Browne McMonagle at Deauville last month. 

Unbeaten in three starts at The Curragh, the Aidan O'Brien-trained Henri Matisse heads the remaining ten horses in the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes. The dual Group 2 winner could be joined by stable companions Rock Of Cashel and The Parthenon while Aidan's son Joseph O'Brien has both Cowardofthecounty and Scorthy Champ in the mix, with Hill Road and Loch Tay possible runners for Adrian Murray and Jessica Harrington respectively.