O’Brien operation under a cloud
THE POOR form of Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle team in the top quality races was confirmed again over the weekend, with top horses performing without distinction in big races in the United States on Saturday and at home at the Curragh on Sunday.
He had some consolation when picking up decent lower level prizes at Tipperary and Cork.
A strong looking team flew out to Chicago for the Group 1 Arlington Million meeting on Saturday night and it was pretty disastrous, with sixth place being the best achieved over three Group 1 races as American trainer Chad Brown cleaned up.
Brown had a 1-2 in the famed Arlington Million, with Ryan Moore and O’Brien’s Deauville trailing in sixth of nine.
He had a 1-2-3 in the Beverley D Stakes with Ballydoyle’s Athena under Moore fin- ishing seventh.
In the Group 1 Secretariat Stakes, O’Brien’s Hunting Horn (eighth) and Lucius Tiberius (twelfth of 13 runners) completed the tale of woe.
The team flew back to the Curragh for Sunday afternoon and the €250k Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes that has been farmed by O’Brien for almost two decades.
He had three of the five runners but victory went to British raider, Martyn Meade, with 11/10 favourite, Advertise.
He was ahead of the O’ Brien outsiders, So Perfect (7/1) and The Irish Rover (12/1) which ran well, and Sergei Prokofiev (7/4) which was first beaten and trailed in last.
He did get second in the €30k Loder fillies’ race but Pink Dogwood was ten lengths behind Sheila Lavery’s favourite, Lady Kaya (13/8), and was third in the €60k Quatar Phoenix Sprint with Spirit of Valor (6/4f), behind sons Joseph and Donnacha who won with Speak in Colours (4/1).
There had been a bit of better news for the O’Brien team at home on Friday and Saturday. The family did enjoy themselves at Tipperary on Friday evening; Donnacha had a treble, on Christmas (5/2jf) for dad, Aidan, in the €52,000 Listed two-year-old Coolmore Caravaggio Stakes, and he got two for brother, Joseph.
Aidan had a double at Cork on Saturday, with Sizzling (7/2) comfortably taking the featured €75,000 Group 3 Give Thanks Stakes under Seamie Heffernan, and hot-shot Zagitova (3/10) in a fillies’ maiden.
After nearly two decades of continuous and unprecedented success, it is apparent that there is something of a cloud over the Ballydoyle operation this season.
It is a far cry from last year when a record 28 Group 1 races were won around the world. It presents a real riddle for punters as they don’t appear too sure themselves which horses are fully fit.