Setback brings early end to White Birch campaign

White Birch has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a setback.

John Joseph Murphy’s stable star enjoyed a fantastic start to his four-year-old campaign, landing the Group Three Alleged Stakes and the Group Two Mooresbridge Stakes before claiming Group One glory with a comprehensive defeat of Auguste Rodin in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

The grey has not been seen in competitive action since that late May success, missing a planned rematch with Auguste Rodin in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot due to unsatisfactory blood test results and also sidestepping the Eclipse at Sandown and York’s Juddmonte International.

Connections had been targeting a return to action in the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday week, but he will now sit out the remainder of 2024.

George Murphy, assistant to his father, said: “He’s just strained his near hock and he has to have box rest for three to four weeks, so unfortunately that will rule him out.

“It’s just bad timing and it’s unfortunate, but we’re looking forward to him next year.”