O’Brien’s boys going for record
Unless Dad can stop them!
JOSEPH O’BRIEN goes head to head with his father Aidan at the Breeders’ Cup tonight hoping to break one record and lose another. If Intricately can win the $1million Juvenile Fillies Turf, Joseph will become the youngest trainer to win at the meeting dubbed the world championship of racing.
But success would also see Joseph hand over the record for the youngest successful jockey to brother Donnacha, freshly crowned apprentice champion in Ireland. He is 18, as Joseph was when he landed the 2011 Turf at Churchill Downs on his father’s St Nicholas Abbey, but a couple of months younger.
‘It’s a good problem to have,’ said Joseph, with a smile on a face that no longer shows the strain of the constant dieting he endured to extend his riding career.
Since last year’s Breeders’ Cup O’Brien, 23 and now a slim but comfortable 11st, has made the switch to training with predictable ease. Success for Intricately in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh in September was a first at Group One level for both him and Donnacha, and easily good enough to warrant a tilt at the Breeders’ Cup in Joseph’s first season as a trainer.
He said: ‘I loved riding and was very lucky to ride some great horses but I never thought I’d ride until I was 40.
‘When I started, I was going to ride till I got 20 winners and then take three months off to get an amateur licence. I got going quicker than I thought I would.
‘The weight was tough in the last year. It was getting to me a bit and I was making stupid mistakes. For the last couple of months I was looking forward to the end.
‘I didn’t expect we’d have a filly as good as this one in my first year training and I genuinely wouldn’t want anyone else on her than Donnacha. He is quite inexperienced and he is a bit younger than when I rode St Nick, but he has had a great year and is riding very well.’
Father Aidan stands between his sons and those new Breeders’ Cup records. He saddles Roly Poly, the Cherry Hinton Stakes winner and Cheveley Park and Lowther Stakes runner-up, and Hydrangea, runner-up in the Moyglare Stakes and Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket.
There seems to be more confidence behind Ryan Moore-ridden Roly Poly but concern about her wide draw in stall 13.
Joseph’s biggest fear is the tight Santa Anita circuit. He added: ‘She stays well and a stiffer track would be better for her.’
Favourite for the race is Frankie Dettori-ridden Spain Burg, transferred to US trainer Kathy Ritvo since winning the Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket. O’Brien Snr is doubly represented in the Juvenile Turf for colts, a race the European challengers have won seven times in nine runnings.
Intelligence Cross looks the best O’Brien hope but Dettori has another cracking chance on Simon Crisford-trained Rodaini. The David O’Mearatrained Suedois misses the Turf Sprint with a stress fracture in his right hoof.