Order Of St George begins on a path that connections hope will lead to him recapturing his Gold Cup crown in the Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan on Sunday.
Aidan O'Brien's star stayer was beaten by Torcedor in this Group Three last year but otherwise looked as good as ever, even though he lost out to Big Orange in a memorable battle at Royal Ascot.
The six-year-old has just the two rivals to contend with now, with Jim Bolger saddling progressive handicapper Clongowes, and Jedd O'Keeffe bringing across his talented gelding Lord Yeats, who was fifth behind Order Of St George in the Irish St Leger when last seen.
Sioux Nation is the class act on show in the Listed Committed Stakes.
O'Brien's colt took the Norfolk and Phoenix Stakes as a juvenile, and was rested following his slightly disappointing display in the Middle Park.
An interesting opponent for him comes from his own yard, with Different League, who was one of the top two-year-old fillies when trained in France in 2017, having been snapped up by Coolmore for 1.5m guineas in December.
Ryan Moore is here to ride Order Of St George and Sioux Nation, and he also gets the leg-up on Bye Bye Baby in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Salsabil Stakes.
The daughter of Galileo picked up Listed honours in the autumn and emerged from the Killavullan Stakes with her reputation enhanced, taking third behind classy stablemate Kenya.
O'Brien and Moore team up with Scat Daddy newcomer So Perfect in the opening Tara Sires Irish EBF Fillies Maiden (2.10), and she cost $400,000 as a yearling.
The John Oxx-trained Dundalk scorer Night Of Power heads the weights for a trappy Vincent Ward Memorial Handicap, while Prospectus struck at Navan when last seen on the level and attempts to follow up in the Come To The Family Day May 19th Handicap.
