Ireland, Racing News, 19.09.19: A half dozen Melbourne Cup contenders were beaten by impeccably-bred 3yo filly Search For A Song in Sunday's €600,000 (A$970,000) Gr.1 Comer Group International Irish St Leger.
The daughter of Galileo provided Dermot Weld with his eighth victory in the Irish St Leger courtesy of a masterful Chris Hayes ride.
Search For A Song raced keenly in the second half of the field and was caught three wide before Hayes allowed his mount to slid forward and move into the lead with 1600 metres remaining, from which point she was never headed, bounding clear in the straight to win by 2.5 lengths.
The six Melbourne Cup entries filled second to seventh, led by Melbourne Cup topweight Kew Gardens working home from his rearward position for second under Ryan Moore.
Southern France battled away gamely back towards the inside rail for third while Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter ran fourth.
For the second consecutive start, Cross Counter settled closer to the lead than usual and raced keenly through the early stages before being left wide minus cover over the second half of the race. He wasn't disgraced considering, finishing four lengths away from the winner.
The Lloyd Williams-owned trio settled in the first three before Master of Reality relinquished the lead to Search For A Song at midway. The trio were outpaced over the concluding stages with Master of Reality leading home Latrobe and Twilight Payment.
1st Search For A Song (D. Weld,C. Hayes ), 2nd Kew Gardens (A. O'Brien,R. Moore), 3rd Southern France (A. O'Brien,S. Heffernan), 4th Cross Counter (C. Appleby,W. Buick), 5th Master Of Reality (J. O'Brien,A. Atzeni), 6th Latrobe (J. O'Brien,D. O'Brien), 7th Twilight Payment (J. Bolger,K. Manning), 8th Cypress Creek (A. O'Brien,E. McNamara), 9th Salouen (S. Kirk,J. Crowley), 10th Capri (A. O'Brien,P. Beggy )
Distance: 1m 6f (2,816 metres), Surface: Turf, Track: Right-handed, Qualification: Three-years-old and up, Weight 9 st 1 lb (3yo);,9 st 9 lb (4yo+), Allowances,3 lb for fillies and mares, Purse: €500,000 (2018),1st: €285,000