O’Brien delivers Classic win
Ballydoyle trainer off to flyer as home racing resumes
THE POWER of Aidan O’Brien and his Ballydoyle stable, backed up by the Coolmore operation headed by Michael Tabor and John Magnier, was on full display in Irish racing last week and culminated in a ninth victory in the fillies’ 1,000 Guineas classic at the Curragh on Saturday evening, won in impressive style by two lengths by Peaceful (3/1), part of a four-timer by O’Brien and his leading Irish jockey, Seamie Heffernan.
Aidan also had third with So Wonderful (13/2) under Wayne Lordan; his younger son Donnacha took second with the fast-finishing Fancy Blue (12/1), and older son Joseph was fourth with New York Girl (14/1) under Seán Crosse.
This win created another bit of history for Coolmore, with Gallileo replacing Danehill as the leading sire of Group 1 winners, 85 to 84. Danehill had the run of several continents while Gallileo always stood in Ireland and was eleven times champion sire in Britain and Ireland, compared to just three for his rival.
It was a fillies double for all concerned as Aidan and Co. won the English Guineas a week earlier with Love.
Aidan has won 43 Irish classics including 13 derbies which he took last year with Sovereign, and five Oaks, Seventh Heaven being the latest in 2016.
Disappointment of the race was the Jessica Harrington-trained 6/5 favourite, Albigna and Shane Foley; this pair have been on fire but failed to ignite this time and finished in sixth place.
It certainly looks like the O’Brien family will be at the head of Irish racing for generations to come, and don’t forget Aidan is still only 50.
He and Heffernan took the last three important races on the card, including the Group 3 Coolmore Gladness Stakes with Lancaster House (6/4), leading all the way and making stamina count.
Joseph was second with Speak in Colours (6/5f), and Jim Bolger was third with Smash Williams (11/1) under Kevin Manning.
Magic Wand has been a worldwide traveller for O’Brien in the past three years and eventually scored a major home success in the Group 2 Lanwades Stud Stakes, romping in by four and a half lengths from Mick Halford’s Hamariyna in the Aga Khan colours.
This tough, durable horse has won well over €4m in a remarkable career, a lot of it in placed money in some of the world’s top races.
The four-timer was initiated in the earlier fillies’ maiden with Snow (5/1), staying on well to hold off stablemate Salsa (9/2) and Wayne
Lordan.
This week Aidan will be taking aim at Royal Ascot where last year he celebrated another amazing milestone when he saddled his 70th winner at the meeting.
He trails only Sir Michael Stoute on 81 and Sir Henry Cecil on 75, and they had many more years than Aidan to assemble their totals.
Perhaps his achievement is put in perspective when you see that John Gosden, the top English trainer of the moment, comes next after him with 49 winners.
This year there will be none of the usual glamour and razzmatazz, and the top hats and tails will not be obligatory.
The Queen will miss the meeting for the first time in her 68-year reign, so perhaps the focus will be where it rightly belongs, on an amazing gathering of the world’s best horses.
Unusually, the previous day Aidan had just a single winner and had to cede the centre of attention to Ger Lyons and Colin Keane who scored a terrific first Classic win in the 2,000 Guineas with unbeaten favourite, Siskin (2/1), owned by Khalid Abddullah who was watching in from Paris.
Siskin had to fend off no less than six Ballydoyle runners in a field of eleven, and they certainly did not make things easy for him.
Boxed in on the rails, Keane stayed cool and forced his way out and finished strongly – he was the best horse in the race and the result was right. O’Brien filled the next three places, with Vatican City, Lope Y Fernandez and Armory.
It was a great success and the culmination of 30 years of hard graft as 56 years old Lyons said after. It was a muted celebration of a wonderful occasion, with no ecstatic scenes in the near deserted winners’ enclosure.
All involved deserved a heroes’ welcome back but they will be very happy with a job well done.
Aidan’s winner came in the opening maiden with Admiral Nelson (5/1) and Wayne Lordan beating Merchants Quay (11/10f) and Heffernan.
It’s hard to keep the O’Briens down for long, and Joseph had a double with Gallileo Chrome in a maiden and Crossfirehurricane in the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes.
Aidan had one winner at Lepardstown on Sunday with Napa Valley (11/8f) in a maiden, while Lyons and Keane kept up their run with a listed race double.
Racing had resumed in Ireland the previous Monday at Naas after the lockdown since March 24, and O’Brien got off to a flyer with More Beautiful (a drifting 11/4) romping in under Heffernan in a fillies’ maiden. They also won a similiar race with Elfin Queen.
Jessica Harrington and Shane Foley were second in both those races but still emerged as the stars of the day with a treble for the trainer and a 13,218/1 four-timer for Foley.
Highlight of the first day back was the win of Sceptical in the listed Anglesey Stakes, a fourth win for Denis Hogan’s €2,800 bargain buy which is now rated the best sprinter in the country. He will mix it with the elite in Royal Ascot later this week.
At Leopardstown on Tuesday, O’Brien and Heffernan won another fillies’ maiden with Ennistymon (11/8f), had the first four in the colts’ maiden, led in by Tiger Moth (16/5) under Wayne Lordan, had the first three in the €90k Derrinstown Stud Derby trial, this led in by Pádraig Beggy on Cormorant, the 12/1 outsider, and completed a four-timer with Heffernan on Love Locket in the 50k fillies’ trial.
Fellow Wexfordman Jim Bolger stopped O’Brien from going one better when Kevin Manning got up by a neck on Ten Year Ticket (8/1) to foil Lordan on King of Athens (10/1).
At Navan on Wednesday, Chief Little Hawk (7/2) kept up the barrage under Heffernan, but star of the day was Jessica Harrington who had a listed race double with Ancient Spirit and Silence Please, winning both by a nose.
There was a low-key card at Gowran Park on Thursday highlighted by doubles for Mrs. Harrington and Ger Lyons, both of whom have made a flying re-start.
There are nine more flat meetings in Ireland this week, leading up to the re-start of the jumps at Limerick next Monday, while the five-day Royal Ascot meeting is the big attraction in Britain from Tuesday onwards, with 20 Group and Listed races.