O’Brien makes more history
Epsom classic double for trainer behind closed doors
LAST WEEKEND was one of the most historically unique and remarkable for racing that I ever remember, with four major classics being staged over two days in England and France, and the prestigious Group 1 Coral Eclipse Stakes was also added to the mix.
Wexford’s Aidan O’Brien, the Master of Ballydoyle, was very much at the heart of it all, sharing the glory with his younger son, Donnacha, who beat him in the French Oaks.
Because of the fixtures disruption caused by the Covid-19 crisis, we ended up with the English Derby and Oaks being staged on the one card on Saturday for the first time in over 200 years, and the following day the French Derby and Oaks were run at Chantilly and the Eclipse at Sandown.
And all this drama took place before a handful of people behind closed doors, a weird and slightly unnerving atmosphere for such major occasions. All this made no difference to the Coolmore and Ballydoyle juggernaut, with the unassuming Aidan O’Brien from Killegney, Poulpeasty, at the helm and once again rewriting the record books while watching on TV with his family from his Tipperary home.
He had a Classic double at Epsom with wide two margin winners, fancied Love (11/10f) in the Oaks, and the shock front-runner, Serpentine (25/1), in the Derby under Emmet McNamara who was having his first ride in the race.
This was Aidan’s eighth Derby win, the most by any trainer since the race was inaugurated in 1780, and the all-time leading owners with nine are Sue Magnier and Michael Tabor of Coolmore. The first winner for the three of them was Galileo in 2001, and this super stallion has now sired five Derby winners after Serpentine’s success, another record.
To all this you can add a couple more: in 2012, Aidan and his then 19-year-old son Joseph with Camelot became the first father and son to train and ride the winner; Aidan won again with Ruler of the World under Ryan Moore a year later, and then Aidan and Joseph did it again with Australia in 2014, becoming the first person to train three successive Derby winners.
Saturday was another remarkable story. Serpentine had only won his first race at the third attempt at the Curragh a week earlier and was considered another Ballydoyle pacemaker; Emmet McNamara was let go off in front and he kicked down the hill into Tattenham corner where he led by twelve or 13 lengths. He never stopped all the way to the line and left the fancied ones trailing in his wake, winning by almost six lengths.
Eric McNamara has worked with Aidan for five or six years but is generally one of the background team. However, he had one of his best days only six days earlier when he was second in the Irish Derby on Tiger Moth, only a head behind the O’Brien favourite, Santiago.
His even bigger outsider, Amhrán na Bhfiann (66/1), came third under Will Buick, a nose ahead of favourite, Kameko (5/2), and Mogul, Russian Emperor and Vatican City were sixth, seventh and eighth.
It’s not the first time Aidan has pulled off a Derby shock. Something very similar happened just three years ago when Pádraig Beggy went all the way on pacemaker, Wings of Eagles, to win at 40/1. His only other success came as a two-year-old at Killarney in 2016, ironically ridden by Emmet McNamara.
The Oaks, the classic for fillies, was much more straightforward, with Love (11/10) adding to her English 1,000 Guineas success with consummate ease, winning by nine lengths from stablemate, Ennistymon (6/1) under Seamie
Heffernan, with Frankly Darling (7/4) and Frankie Dettori third. It was an armchair ride for Ryan Moore. It was Aidan’s eighth win in the Oaks and his fifth in the past nine years.
The French classics on Sunday also provided some drama, and the O’Brien family were central to the Oaks (Prix Diane) story. This race had not been won by an Irish-trained horse for 50 years (Seamus McGrath’s Mimosa), but we had the first three home on this occasion.
Winner in a blanket finish was Fancy Blue (7/1), trained by Aidan’s son, Donnacha, who retired from race riding last November because of weight issues and turned to training in the old
David Wachman yard in Tipperary. He has now won his first Classic just over two weeks from his 22nd birthday with only his fourth training win.
Fancy Blue was ridden by French jockey, Pierre Charles Boudet, in the Michael Tabor colours and was trained by Aidan last year.
She pipped Jessica Harrington’s favourite, Alpine Star, by a head with the fast-finishing Irish 1,000 Guineas winner, Peaceful, another head back in third, in the same Tabor colours. Seamie Heffernan was unlucky on that one; he was in the front rank from the start but seemed to get shuffled back to the middle of the pack and had to make up a lot of ground.
In the French Derby (Prix Du Jockey Club), victory went to John Gosden’s Mishriff (15/2). Aidan O’Brien’s Order of Australia had a hard race, contesting the lead before slipping back and then coming again under Seamie Heffernan. Understandably, he faded in the closing 150 yards to seventh.
Possibly the classiest race of the whole weekend was the Coral Eclipse Stakes at Sandown on Sunday, an all-aged event featuring some of the top horses of recent years.
Winner was Ghaiyyath (9/4) for Godolphin and William Buick, two and a quarter lengths ahead of Enable (1/1), twice winner of the Prix de l’Arc De Triomphe and heading there again at the age of six. This was a good starting point.
Third, another head back, was Aidan’s Japan (6/1), a good run under Ryan Moore, and next was world traveller and winner of €4m, Magic Wand (25/1) under Pádraig Beggy, who made up a lot of late ground but was never in real contention.