As the dust settles on the second staging of Irish Champions Weekend, there is again much to reflect on two days that served up some top-quality action.

Easily the highlight were the Irish Champion Stakes, where the English raider and Epsom Derby hero Golden Horn defeated a stellar field.

The absence of Gleneagles owing to the ground robbed the race of a considerable amount of intrigue, but Golden Horn still faced a field that contained six individual Group 1 winners. The John Gosden-runner dug deep, but his victory wasn’t without drama as he broadsided the challenging Free Eagle inside the last furlong, in a move that cost the latter second place.

Had Free Eagle finished second, it is quite likely that Golden Horn would have lost the race in the stewards’ room. The runner-up spot actually went to the filly Found, who came home well over the last furlong and a half.

It would appear that the first three home in the Champion Stakes are all likely to cross swords again in next month’s Arc de Triomphe, but on the evidence of Sunday’s trials in France, everybody looks to be playing for a minor role behind Treve.

Day two of Champions Weekend was a marvellous one for Aidan O’Brien, who reeled off a Group 1 hat-trick at the Curragh headed by Order Of St George in the Irish St Leger. The first three-year-old to win the race in 14 years, the Galileo colt was a stunning 11-length winner.

O’Brien’s Air Force Blue followed his Phoenix Stakes triumph with an impressive dismissal of his opponents in the National Stakes and he will surely head into the winter as the country’s leading 2000 Guineas hope.

O’Brien looks to have a stranglehold on the two-year-old fillies division, after supplying the first three home in the Moyglare, where the improving Minding reversed Debutante Stake form with Ballydoyle.

David Wachman’s star filly Legatissimo was in a different class to her opposition as she cruised to a third Group 1 win of the season in the Matron Stakes.

Perhaps the most popular victory belonged to Eddie Lynam’s star sprinter Sole Power, in what was only his second run on Irish shores since August 2011. His narrow success in last weekend’s Flying Five Stakes was his first in Ireland since April 2010. A true warrior, Sole Power is a tremendous credit to his trainer since the gelding first burst on to the big time with his 100/1 win in the 2010 Nunthorpe Stakes.

Michael Halford’s Anamba’s winning debut in a Leopardstown marked her out as a filly of real potential for 2016. Elsewhere, Johannes Vermeer’s Group 3 win at Leopardstown indicated that he could be ready for a shot at the big time before the end of the year.

The Goffs champions sale couldn’t match last year’s returns, but produced a top lot of €450,000, paid by leading owner Barry Connell for the dual winner and Group 3-placed Edelpour.

The middle-distance horse will join Alan Fleming for a jumping career.