O’BRIEN ON A HIGH
Highland Reel’s triumph makes it 300 top-class wins
HE MAY not be the best but he probably ranks as the bravest and that made Highland Reel a hugely appropriate horse to carry trainer aidan O’Brien to a notable landmark.
When the Ryan Moore-ridden 9-4 shot battled across the line a length and a half clear of decorated Knight in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, he became O’Brien’s 300th grade one winner on the Flat and over jumps.
Six of them have been achieved by Highland Reel, who has now won more prizemoney — £5,974,719 — than any other O’Brien horse.
By his next race, scheduled to be an attempt to win the King george vi & Queen elizabeth Stakes back at ascot next month, Highland Reel should be the racehorse with the most wins in europe.
Only French hero Cirrus des aigles (£6,179,490) and dual Prix de l’arc de Triomphe heroine Treve (£6,002,918) lie ahead of him.
They could soon be specks on the statistical horizon, with O’Brien planning to target the tough-as-teak son of galileo at races like the irish Champion Stakes at leopardstown and Juddmonte international Stakes at York — as well as trying to better last year’s second in the arc and repeat his win in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Reflecting on his achievement — and a 56th Royal ascot win — O’Brien said: ‘We are a small part of a massive team. a huge chain of people are involved and we feel privileged to be part of it.’
The doubt over Highland Reel yesterday was that, despite a win in the 10-furlong Secretariat Stakes at arlington Park in Chicago in 2015, his other big wins had been over two furlongs further. But, after decorated Knight, Ulysses and Jack Hobbs all bore down on him at the furlong pole, he was pulling away at the line after looking like he might be overwhelmed.
O’Brien described his attitude as ‘concrete’, adding: ‘He is unbelievably courageous. He has passed every test you would want a thoroughbred to go through and we have toured the world with him. it’s what his dad galileo had which made him different to any other horse we have trained. it’s courage and this horse has it 10-fold. Sometimes he gets beaten but he does not give up.’
Highland Reel’s win came 19 days after victory in the Coronation Cup at epsom and was secured after O’Brien’s team had endured an arduous and delayed flight from ireland.
Jockey Moore said that made it even more special, adding: ‘i’d say that was probably a career best from him.’
if there was a surprise about yesterday’s victory, it was that it had taken O’Brien 10 races of this Royal meeting to get on the scoreboard.
His disappointments on the first day included dual guineas winner Churchill only finishing fourth to Barney Roy in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
O’Brien said: ‘i am not sure what happened but he did not eat up the night before. That is unusual for him. it was very warm and that can affect some horses. That’s the only thing i can think of. For whatever reason, he never kicked in.’
O’Brien hopes to bring Churchill back for the Sussex Stakes at glorious goodwood in august.