First Aid class
IT’S A CLEAN SWEEP FROM O’BRIEN
US NAVY FLAG led home a Dewhurst Stakes 1-2-3-4 for Aidan O’brien as 2000 Guineas favourite Expert Eye trailed in a sorry last.
Newmarket punters made Expert Eye the 4-7 hotpot to remain unbeaten as he stepped up to the top level for the first time.
But the Sir Michael Stoute trainee returned a sorry ninth of the nine.
Blinkered 5-1 chance US Army Flag, a brother to O’brien’s three-time Group 1 heroine Roly Poly, made all the running under Ryan Moore to become the first to complete the Middle Park-dewhurst Stakes double since Diesis in 1982.
The Ballydoyle dominance did not stop with the winner – Mendelssohn, at 50-1, took second, followed by stablemates Seahenge and Threeandfourpence.
“He’s a Middle Park winner – a very good Middle Park winner – and I think he was overlooked a little bit,” said O’brien of the winning horse.
“He’s a very tough, solid horse with plenty of tactical speed – a very good colt. His sister, Roly Poly, was very good at six, when she went to seven she was better, and when she went to a mile she was even better.
“They’re very genuine. They’re out of a very good Galileo mare, both of them. “They don’t flinch.” O’brien, welcoming his 24th top-tier victory of 2017, needs just one more Group or Grade 1 to equal the 2003 feat of US legend Bobby Frankel.
Asked about equalling Frankel’s best – a nearcertainty to be achieved at Ascot’s British Champions Day card next Saturday, O’brien added: “It would be a massive achievement for everybody.”
US Navy Flag is as short as 5-1 favourite to supplement his Dewhurst success in the 2000 Guineas back over Newmarket’s Rowley Mile course next spring.
Expert Eye can now be backed at 12-1 for the colts’ Classic, and Lord Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to his owner, Prince Khalid Abdullah, admitted: “We’re a bit mystified.
“His work leading up to the race was nothing short of superb – but they have to prove it on the track.”