O’Brien loses by matter of inches
BEST AIDAN O’Brien run of the weekend was on the other side of the world in Australia in the early hours of Saturday morning when last year’s Derby winner, Anthony Van Dyck, was just inched out of the 143rd running of the Group 1 Caulfield Cup in Melbourne under top local rider, Hugh Bowman, by Verry Elegant, winner of four Group 1s this year.
Aidan has a few horses undergoing quarantine in Australia, and the big target is a first success in the famed Melbourne Cup in early November. His son, Joseph, beat him into second a couple of years ago when he won the race with Rekindling.
Otherwise, Saturday was a frustrating day for Aidan as he collected no winner from a big team in the very lucrative British Champions Day card featuring four Group 1s on heavy going at Ascot.
Magical (15/8f), a seven-times Group 1 winner around the world, made a gallant effort to retain the Champion Stakes, at £750k the richest race in Britain in this Covid-constrained season, but had a troubled passage in the closing stages under Ryan Moore and came third behind Addeybb (9/1), ridden by Tom Marquand who was himself at the centre of a magical story.
Marquand completed a double in the concluding £100k handicap on Jessica Harrington’s Njord (15/2), chased home by his partner, Hollie Doyle, on Solid Stone (16/1). It was a dream day on the biggest stage for this likeable young couple who have known each other since their pony racing days as children.
Doyle capped a remarkable season with a double and a pair of seconds, including her first Group 1 success on Glen Shiel (16/1) by a nose after a terrific ride in the Champion Sprint. She has had 120 winners this calendar year, including becoming the first woman to ride five winners at the one meeting.
Marquand recalls that Hollie beat him on his first-ever ride on the ponies. He has won six less than her this season on 114 winners but did pick up more prize money at £2.2m, compared to her £1.67m. They are third and fourth in the jockeys’ table with a couple of weeks to go.
At Cork on Tuesday, Aidan O’Brien got the better of Jim Bolger in a two-year-old race over a mile, with Colin Keane winning by a neck on Sir Lucan (5/4f) from Flying Visit (7/2) under Kevin Manning.
It is rare to come out of the Curragh with no winner for either O’Brien or Bolger, but that’s how it was on a low-grade Thursday meeting.
In contrast, at Leopardstown on Friday, O’Brien won the first two and
Bolger the third. Seamie Heffernan’s double came in a pair of two-year-old maidens, on Willow (3/1) in a fillies’ race and Bolshoi Ballet (1/1) in a contest for colts. Bolger and Rory Cleary won the onemile handicap with Theophile (10/1).
Bolger scooped one of the best local prizes of the week at Leopardstown on Saturday, with Poetic Flare (7/1 into 3/1) comfortably winning the €50k
Group 3 Killavullan Stakes, while O’Brien had to be content with a couple of places.
There was a lucrative card at Naas on Sunday; Aidan only contested three races and won the first of them, a six-furlong maiden, with Elizabethan (10/3), but failed to figure in the valuable Listed races.
Jim Bolger sent a full team and contested seven of the eight races but had to wait for the last to get a winner, Poster Child (3/1f) under Kevin Manning
In Britain, P.J. McDonald had a better week with a double on Tuesday at Newcastle with One Over Par (6/1) by a short head and Ulshaw Bridge (12/), and he almost made it a treble, beaten a short head on Flower of Scotland (6/4f).
On Friday at Haydock he won by a nose on Air Raid (16/1) for Jedd O’Keeffe, and he had a double at Wolverhampton on Saturday for Jim Tate with Aim for the Stars (13/2) and Melodic Charm (7/2f).