Brown Panther Pounces in Irish St. Leger
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A heady ride propelled 14-1 longshot Brown Panther to a commanding victory in the Palmerstown House Estate Irish St. Leger (Ire-I) Sept. 14 at the Curragh.
Jockey Richard Kingscote was aboard the 6-year-old son of Shirocco, who scored by 6 1/2 lengths after pressing trainer Aidan O'Brien's pacemaker Eye of The Storm throughout the 1 3/4-mile test. He shook off the front-runner in the stretch and galloped unchallenged to his first group I victory.
Leading Light, the 9-10 favorite trained by O'Brien, went to second inside the final furlong with Joseph O'Brien and outfinished Encke by a head.
Eye of The Storm seized command out of the gate with Colm O'Donoghue, but Kingscote immediately sent Brown Panther in pursuit and the two runners opened a long lead from the rest of the field. Brown Panther moved to challenge over a quarter-mile out before easily taking charge with three furlongs to run to secure the open-lengths victory.
"I didn't look back and just kept pushing, but I couldn't hear them coming," Kingscote told England's Press Association.
Brown Panther was third in the 2012 Irish St. Leger, beaten just a head by Royal Diamond and Massiyn. He entered for this year's race with two wins and two placings this season from five starts that included wins in the Ormonde Stakes (Eng-III) in May 9 and Henry II Stakes (Eng-III) May 29. Brown Panther subsequently placed in the Prix Maurice de Nieull (Fr-II) and Goodwood Cup (Eng-II) in July in his two most recent starts.
Brown Panther finished the Irish St. Leger in 2:57.15 on good to firm turf providing trainer Tom Dascombe with his first group I win. Dascombe trains the bay horse for former English soccer star Michael Owen and Betfair co-founder Andrew Black.
Dascombe said Brown Panther, who has an overall record of 10-4-2 from 24 starts, would be pointed to the British Champions Long Distance (Eng-III) this fall at Ascot and perhaps some races in Dubai.
"He'll probably run for one more season," he said.
Owen bred Brown Panther in Great Britain from the group-placed stakes winner Treble Heights, by Unfuwain.