O’Brien pulls off Breeders double
Youngest to train a winner
TRAINER Joseph O’Brien, the youngest man to ride a Breeders’ Cup winner, became the youngest man to train one as Iridessa opened the scoring for the European team at the Breeders’ Cup with a thrilling win in the Filly & Mare Turf.
O’Brien, 26, also joined Freddy Head as the only man to both ride and train a Breeders’ Cup winner.
O’Brien’s win as a jockey came on St Nicholas Abbey – trained by his father, Aidan – in the 2011 Turf at Churchill Downs. In his brief training career, which started in 2016, Joseph has already won a host of big prizes, including the Irish Derby and Melbourne Cup as well as the Irish Gold Cup over fences.
His father had no such luck in the Mile, in which Circus Maximus was fourth behind Uni.
Iridessa, ridden by Wayne Lordan, sat off the pace set by clear leader Mirth before beating Vasilika a neck, with the odds-on favourite and 2018 winner, Sistercharlie, in third and John Gosden- trained Fanny Logan in fourth.
Richard Hannon-trained Billesdon Brook finished eighth, with the trainer feeling she did not stay the 1m 2f trip. O’Brien said: ‘It’s very special. I have been coming here a long time and know how hard it is to win. I am very privileged to be in the position I am in. I get a bigger kick out of training them than I did riding them.’
An additional O’Brien link to Iridessa is that she was bred by Joseph’s mother, Annemarie. The filly, who won the Group One Pretty
Polly and Matron Stakes in Ireland this year, is likely to stay in training in 2020 with a return to the Breeders’ Cup on the agenda.
There was a British connection to the story of Belvoir Bay, winner of the Filly & Mare Sprint for trainer Peter Miller and jockey Javier Castellano. Belvoir Bay was bred in Britain and originally bought for 20,000gns and sent to trainer Hannon, who got her to win at Windsor and Goodwood.
She has thrived since being sold to America but is lucky to be alive. She was ‘lost’ for three weeks when wildfires engulfed the San Luis Rey Training Centre near San Diego, forcing Miller to turn his horses loose to flee for their lives. In all, 46 horses died.
Earlier, European hopes Fleeting (Aidan O’Brien) and Suedois (David O’Meara) were among four horses ruled out on day two of the Breeders’ Cup amid strict veterinary screening. Their withdrawal added to the Europeans’ frustration, with the best finish on the opening day being Roger Varian’s Daahyeh, who was second to Sharing in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.