Kevin Stott’s William Hill blog: King Of Steel is the one they all have to beat

William Hill ambassador Kevin Stott gives his thoughts on his rides on Saturday from Leopardstown, including King Of Steel’s bid for a first Group 1 in the Irish Champion Stakes.

Saturday, Leopardstown

I’m off to Leopardstown for a big day on Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it. These are the days you look forward to as a jockey, so it’s brilliant to be a part of and I can’t wait to get on the plane over.

I begin with Elegant Madame in the Listed Ingabelle Stakes (1.45pm). She won nicely on the all-weather at Lingfield on her debut where she was quite impressive given she was drawn wide. I was really taken by the way she finished her race off that day and we’ve had this race in mind since she was a non-runner at Goodwood.

The race has cut up a bit but there are plenty of unexposed fillies in here and you’d imagine they’ll be some decent types to come out of it. We think our filly is a bit above average, though, and we’re looking forward to seeing how she gets on up in grade.

Olivia Maralda runs in the Matron Stakes (2.45pm). She didn’t run up to her best against the colts in the City Of York last time but she’s back against her own sex here. This will require a career best so she has a bit to find, but Roger [Varian] wouldn’t be running her here for the sake of it. The quick ground will certainly be in her favour too.

Last but my no means least is King Of Steel in the Irish Champion Stakes (3.20pm). I’m absolutely confident that dropping back to 10 furlongs will help him and with plenty of pace in the race we should get a good gallop to work from. Going that slightly quicker tempo should allow him to get into a rhythm quicker and I can’t wait to get back on board him again.

Everyone at home is really happy with him and he looks great. He’s been given plenty of time to get over his run in the King George and while it was a hard race, we think he’ll have learnt a lot from it and I expect him to step forward mentally as much as anything here. He’s still lightly raced and there could easily be more to come on just his sixth career start.

It would be amazing if we could win a Group 1 and if anything we actually think he might be better at this trip, which given he has finished second in a Derby and third in a King George over further is quite exciting. He could easily go back to up in trip, but we feel this might be where he is at his optimum so the fact we haven’t actually run him over it is something we are all really looking forward to.

I wouldn’t swap him for anything in the race and honestly believe he’s the one they all have to beat.