Haggas runner has class to repel O’Brien’s Oaks charge
STABLE BEST: SEA OF CLASS RATED FINEST FILLY CURRENTLY IN THE YARD
US Navy Flag off to Australia to run in the $10m Everest in Sydney on 13 October.
Aidan O’Brien has been one of the greatest success-stories in Irish racing history, yet three years ago the vultures were circling over Ballydoyle with rumours increasing that he was about to be axed by Coolmore as their number one trainer.
Happily, to quote Donald Trump that proved to be “fake news”, and in 2017 O’Brien enjoyed arguably his greatest season yet, eclipsing the world record number of Group/Grade 1 winners in a calendar year held by the late Californian trainer Bobby Frankel when celebrating 28 victories at the top table.
Back in the spring bookmakers offered only 5-2 about O’Brien beating that record this year, but Saxon Warrior has three times fallen from grace since his explosive performance in the 2000 Guineas, Clemmie, Europe’s champion two-year-old filly last season, is 0-3 since winning the Cheveley Park last autumn, and, while he did capture Royal Ascot’s trainer’s crown for the ninth time, Aidan conceded that “there were a few disappointments”.
However, though O’Brien’s arch Derby-winning rivals Godolphin took the major honours with six winners at last week’s prestigious July meeting, Aidan had the last laugh when landing the £500,000 Darley July Cup on Saturday with US Navy Flag.
And being one who always prefers to look forward with optimism than reflect in the depressive dungeon how things went wrong, O’Brien is hopeful of retaining pole-position this weekend, when Magic Wand and Forever Together give him a strong hand of emulating Sir Michael Stoute by giving him a sixth Irish Oaks success at The Curragh.
Forever Together had Magic Wand trailing 11 lengths back in fourth when winning the Epsom version of the premier fillies classic, but Ryan always felt that Magic Wand, who raced on the slower ground on the rain-softened Surrey Downs, was the better of the two.
That certainly looks the case now, with Magic Wand having gone on to slam Epsom runnerup Wild Illusion by four lengths in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, whereas Forever Together subsequently fluffed her lines when starting odds-on for the Pretty Polly Stakes when dropped in trip at The Curragh on Irish Derby Day.
Both O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore are adamant it was the soft ground which proved Magic Wand’s downfall at Epsom, and back on a decent surface at Ascot she looked even better than she had done when winning the Cheshire Oaks in May.
However, William Haggas, who ironically won the aforementioned Pretty Polly with Goodwood-bound “super-sub” Urban Fox, makes no secret of the fact that SEA OF CLASS remains the best filly in his yard, and he has no regrets about missing Epsom to wait for the Irish Oaks.
Haggas said: “Sea Of Class looks very smart – she stays and she has a potent turn of foot at the end of a race.
“But it was only in April that she set foot on the racecourse for the first time so I thought Epsom would come too soon.
“Happily, the decision became easier when it rained leading up to the big day, and, though she needs to improve if we are to beat the Ballydoyle team as our filly has only won two Listed races, I wouldn’t swap her for anything.
“True, Sea Of Class was less impressive the second time at Newbury than she had been the first, but she had suffered a minor hold-up just beforehand so I was perfectly satisfied, and we are all looking forward to The Curragh.”
However, whatever Coolmore’s fate on Saturday Messrs Magnier, Tabor and Smith won’t be too down in the dumps as we reach the half-way point in the 2018 UK season.
Their three-year-old colts might not be a vintage crop, but there were joyous celebrations in Tipperary as US Navy Flag, last season’s champion two-year-old in Europe, redeemed his somewhat tarnished reputation at Newmarket, and O’Brien has been given the green light to take on the Aussie sprinters in the $10m Everest in Sydney on 13 October.
He said: “Australian racing is very strong and competitive, and though we’ve won a Cox Plate with Adelaide and come close in a Melbourne Cup, we have not yet quite conquered the racing scene Down Under, and it would be great to do it with US Navy Flag.
“We brought Mozart and Stravinsky back from a mile (1600m) to win the July Cup, and now we’ve done it again with US Navy Flag, and The Everest is such an exciting challenge.”
Furthermore, though without a two-year-old winner at Royal Ascot, O’Brien has recently produced a couple of potential classic winners for 2019 – Goddess, his number one filly at present, and Anthony Van Duck - while on Bastille Day at Longchamp last Saturday his Queen’s Vase hero Kew Gardens grabbed Group 1 glory when silencing the French celebrations in the Grand Prix de Paris.
Kew Gardens will now represent Coolmore in what looks a sub-standard renewal of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes at Ascot on 28 July, with the St Leger also on his agenda.
Godolphin, who enjoyed a very successful Spring Carnival in Melbourne last autumn, are already putting together a few names for the trip to the Southern Hemisphere in October, headed by Hamada, who bolted up by seven lengths in a handicap at Newmarket last week.
With Ascot and Glorious Goodwood just around the corner, this Saturday is low-key in Britain, but I can recommend John Gosden’s Commonwealth Cup third EMBLAZONED in the only Group race, the Hackwood Stakes at Newbury.