Delacroix will face seven rivals as he attempts to add the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown to the Eclipse he won earlier in the season.
Having disappointed in the Derby, Aidan O'Brien’s colt bounced back at Sandown, beating the year older Ombudsman with a thrilling late run.
O’Brien is happy to put a line through his effort at York in the Juddmonte International when second to Ombudsman due to how the race was run and with John and Thady Gosden opting against the race with their charge, Delacroix is a hot favourite on Saturday when the Irish Champions Festival begins at Leopardstown (Live on RTÉ2/Player).
Christophe Soumillon will be aboard as Ryan Moore recovers from a femur stress fracture that could keep him out for a couple of months.
Owen Burrows’ stalwart Anmaat will have his first run since Royal Ascot, with conditions turning in his favour as the ground is currently described as soft, yielding to soft in places.
Last season’s Champion Stakes winner at Ascot has only run twice this year due to the dry summer but has shown he retains all his ability, finishing second both times.
Shin Emperor is back for another go in the €1.25 million contest for trainer Yoshito Yahagi having finished a close third to Economics 12 months ago.
Since that effort, he has also finished second in the Japan Cup and in Saudi Arabia but he has not run since disappointing in Dubai in early April.
White Birch is another with solid Group One form while Karl Burke’s Royal Champion steps back up to the highest level having comfortably seen off Almaqam at York.
Johnny Murtagh’s Zahrann steps up in grade, Jessica Harrington’s Hotazhell gets to race with cut in the ground for the first time since his Futurity Trophy win last year, while O’Brien also runs Mount Kilimanjaro.
The other Group One on the card is the Coolmore America 'Justify’ Matron Stakes in which Burke’s Fallen Angel aims to go one better than last year.
She beat O’Brien’s January in the Prix Rothschild last time and the Ballydoyle runner reopposes, with first-time cheekpieces added this time.
Coronation Stakes winner Cercene and the improving Vera’s Secret are part of a field of 11.
Venetian Sun, Asfoora, Gstaad and Al Riffa are among the array of stars on show on day two of the Irish Champions Festival, which is at the Curragh.
The Moyglare Stud Stakes is the first of four Group One prizes up for grabs at the home of Irish Flat racing and sees the Karl Burke-trained Venetian Sun put her unbeaten record on the line.
Since making a winning debut at Carlisle, the daughter of Starman has landed the Albany at Royal Ascot, the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket and the Prix Morny at Deauville and now tests the water over seven furlongs for the first time in a race her trainer won with Fallen Angel two years ago.
Venetian Sun's biggest threat appears to be Silver Flash and Debutante Stakes heroine Composing, who is one of three runners for Aidan O’Brien in a seven-strong field along with Beautify and Precise.
The other top-level juvenile prize up for grabs is the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes, for which O’Brien’s Coventry Stakes winner Gstaad is a red-hot favourite having finished a close second to Venetian Sun at Deauville three weeks ago.
His five rivals include a pair of stablemates in Dorset and Italy, Joseph O’Brien’s North Coast and two unbeaten British raiders in Saba Desert and Zavateri, trained by Charlie Appleby and Eve Johnson Houghton respectively.
Australian sprinting star Asfoora is poised to make her Irish debut in the Bar One Racing Flying Five Stakes after bagging her second Group One win on British soil in the Nunthorpe at York last month.
She is taken on by 15 opponents, with the home team headed by Adrian Murray’s pair of Bucanero Fuerte and Arizona Blaze.
The last Group One of the day and the final Classic of the Irish Flat season is the Comer Group International Irish St Leger.
The top two in the market are Joseph O’Brien’s Al Riffa and Aidan O’Brien’s Illinois, while Ralph Beckett sends Amiloc across the Irish Sea in search of his sixth win from as many starts.
Watch the Irish Champions Festival from 2.45pm on Saturday and 2.30pm on Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
