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HAVING already saddled the winners of both Guineas at Newmarket this season, Aidan O’Brien has this year’s three-yearold miler category pretty much covered.
It is easy to forget O’Brien is only 47-years-old and is gunning for his 11th Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas victory at the Curragh today with CHURCHILL (4.10).
The Galileo colt gave the brilliant Cashel handler his eighth win in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas on the Rowley Mile.
Add his Qipco 1,000 Guineas winner Winter to the mix, who will go off an odds-on favourite to win the Irish equivalent tomorrow and O’Brien, inset, can achieve an historic Guineas double-double.
Impressive
Churchill got the job done at Newmarket, winning by a hardearned length ahead of Barney Roy, with Al Wukair a neck further back in third.
But while the performance wasn’t as impressive as some may have hoped, he still won a Classic on his seasonal debut. The Coolmore threeyear-old is certain to improve on that run and his entry has scared away the opposition this afternoon.
Just five rivals take him on, and two of those, Lancaster Bomber and Spirit Of Valor, are trained by O’Brien and finished behind the Guineas winner at Newmarket.
It will probably be a futile task but if there is a horse who might make the favourite work for the prize, Thunder Snow could be the one – so long as he brings his best form to the show.
The Godolphin-owned colt finished fourth behind Churchill in last year’s Dewhurst Stakes, before winning the Group One Criterium International at Saint-Cloud in October.
Since then he has run three times on dirt, winning twice at Meydan, but his next race, the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, lasted less than a furlong.
The Saeed bin Suroor-trained colt appeared to take great exception to running on the sloppy track and reared and kicked as soon as the gates opened. Jockey Christophe Soumillon was forced to pull him up.
The Frenchman will be hoping to avoid a repeat performance today.
WINTER (3.25) is hard to oppose in the Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas tomorrow. Another Classic winner by Galileo, the grey filly was always in control after getting first run on the pack in the Qipco 1,000 Guineas. With stablemate Rhododrendron heading for the Oaks at Epsom, having come with a late run in the Guineas to finish second after getting boxed in, the favourite’s main rival could be Rehana, trained by Mick Halford.
The Aga Khan-owned filly finished a neck and three-quarters of a length behind Hydrangea and Winter in the Ballylinch Stud 1,000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown, before comfortably winning
the Athasi Stakes at