IT is 20 years since Aidan O’Brien won his first Irish Champion Stakes with Giant’s Causeway.
The master of Ballydoyle has saddled the winner of the Leopardstown race a total of eight times in the past two decades, including last year with Magical.
That great racemare will again head the Coolmore challenge for the feature race of Irish Champions Weekend next Saturday. Ryan Moore made sure he would be available for the ride by starting two weeks of isolation in Ballydoyle last weekend. As it turns out that wasn’t necessary but, as Aidan O’Brien revealed in an online press conference this week, at least the visitor got some free dinners in Tipperary.
Moore can look forward to plenty of nice rides at Leopardstown and the Curragh though the stable is a little bit light on top two-year-olds so far this season. The trainer explained: “We messed up our two-year-olds. We trained them for the first week [in June] hoping to have horses for Ascot. Some took it, most don’t. So that messed up the next couple of months.
“Luckily some horses have coped with it and the others we will get on an even keel over the winter. We will see the best of them next spring. So, it hasn’t been smooth. I feel I could have done a better job with those type of horses.”
Next weekend is going to be a huge one for Ballydoyle. As well as Leopardstown and the Curragh, there is the St Leger meeting at Doncaster and a big day at ParisLongchamp on Sunday, where the usual Arc trials will be complemented by the rescheduled Grand Prix de Paris.
Here Aidan shares his plans for all of those big meetings.
Magical
(111222151-112)
Irish Champion Stakes (Group 1)
She ran in York [second to Ghaiyyath] and Ryan (Moore) was very happy with her and thought she might progress for it. We’re very happy with her since too. It was Magical’s first run back for an autumn campaign. She’s a hardy lady and gives her all. There is every chance she’d run a very big race. We feel we haven’t see the best of her yet. She has a huge rating but is a little bit under those horses she is racing against and that’s why we keep tweaking things with her, to see if we can get her to show on the track what we see at home. Not everyone has seen her very best yet but it could come one of these days.
Japan
(431114-433)
Irish Champion Stakes (Group 1)
We’re happy with him now. He came back [from the King George] with very sore feet. He was sore for a week, but has been re-shod and is taking his training very well.
Vatican City
(51-287)
Irish Champion Stakes (Group 1)
We went a mile and a half with him the Derby and that was probably too far with him. Then we brought him back to a mile at Goodwood but he was galloped into coming down the hill, pulled off a shoe and lost his action, so it was a non-event. We would like another look at him over a mile and a quarter, and we can go back to a mile after. He’s very well.
Peaceful
(912-13)
Coolmore America Matron Stakes (Group 1)
She’s come out of France well [finished third to Fancy Blue and Alpine Star in the Prix de Diane]. She’s had a little break and is back for the autumn again. Obviously she won the Irish Guineas and then she went and ran very well in France. We thought we’d go back to a mile here and then go to a mile and a quarter again. We are very happy with her and think she is ready to run again. We might run a few others with her but she would be the main one.
Battleground
(511)
Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes (Group 1)
He’s a big, powerful horse and has done very well physically. We’re looking forward to him – he’s a horse to look forward to, we think. Military Style could also go here, along with Ontario, St Mark’s Basilica and Wembey. But Battleground is the main one. He seems versatile, he handles good and slow ground.
Sovereign
(2301-32)
Comer Group Irish St Leger (Group 1)
He had a lovely run in the King George. We think he’ll get a mile and six and if the ground is slow it shouldn’t bother him either. We are also thinking of running Passion back there. She ran a big race in the Oaks and we felt she’d be happy stepping up to a mile and six, as she showed at Naas. We thought we might run her with him. We look forward to seeing her run. A trip to Australia could be an option for our Irish St Leger runners afterwards.
Love
(4211513-111)
Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Group 1)
The plan was always to have the three runs, then the Arc and see whether we go to America (Breeders’ Cup) or not. That’s still the plan, and everything looks so far so good with her. Obviously the Arc is going to be a seriously competitive race. It’s a month from this weekend, so things have to fall right for everybody that’s going to compete in it and every horse, and then on the day it is going to be a seriously challenging race. But everything is well with her. We had it spaced out that there was a six-week gap from York to France – and that’s what we were very happy with.
We got the chance to give her a couple of easy weeks, and then her programme would start building up again, and she’s back into her programme already – she’s very fresh. She’s doing nice canters at the moment, which she has to do to keep her right, because she gets very well and fresh in herself.
Serpentine
(0-511)
Grand Prix de Paris (Group 1)
He had two quick runs leading up to the Derby – he’d only run the week before – and after the Derby he was a little bit quiet and a little bit tired and needed a little bit of time, but we always thought he was a very smart middle-distance horse.
He has a busy next 10 days, so it will be interesting how it goes – but if we run him in Paris next weekend it will be a run to get him started back, and then see where we go after that. But obviously a race like the Arc or something like that would be possible. Either way, we are hoping we will have him for next year.
Don’t be fooled by what anyone says about the Derby. He is relentless and whatever race he runs in you need to follow him. I heard everyone saying he got a freebie at Epsom but I don’t think there was anyone pulling or dragging to stay off him. He is happy to go a strong gallop and if there is something that can give him a lead then that will suit him even better.
Mogul
(2114-4613)
Grand Prix de Paris (Group 1)
He worked very well on Wednesday but he’s still not fully fit. We can’t do enough to get him there. He’s a tough, hardy customer who shows loads of pace at home. We think 12 furlongs is his trip but it’s very possible he may need to go back to 10. He has the physique of a sprinter-miler and we have never thought of him as a Leger horse.
He’s in the Grand Prix de Paris and maybe we will do something different with him there, like holding him up and riding him like a 10-furlong horse. Whether it’s tactics or his training, we just haven’t seen 100% of him yet. Every day he laughs at us in the barn. He feels no pressure or pain. Normally a good horse has to go through that barrier to show their best.
Santiago
(221-113)
Pertemps St Leger Stakes (Group 1)
Things didn’t go smoothly for Santiago at Goodwood [third to Stradivarius]. We normally like to take our time on him but he hit the gates on Ryan [Moore] and he couldn’t get him back. He ended up racing in second position and a gear too high. It didn’t do him any harm but he probably had a hard race so we gave him an easy time afterwards. He seems to be in good form now. Dawn Patrol and Mythical may run at Doncaster too.
Other running plans
Arizona and Magic Wand are also in the Irish Champion Stakes. Magic Wand could switch to the Blandford Stakes on the Sunday, it depends on the ground [she likes fast ground]. She will probably travel to the USA and Hong Kong afterwards, if we are allowed.
Van Gogh might be a possible for the Group 2 KPMG Champion Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown. We ran him on very bad ground at the Curragh [finished sixth to Mac Swiney in the Futurity] but it didn’t work. He’s a very big horse.
Brazil and High Definition both won at the Curragh and they could go there too. Brazil would work with any horse over four furlongs at home but at Tipperary he looked as if he needed a mile and a half. We think he is very babyish, so we put blinkers on him at the Curragh and Wayne [Lordan] said he was just stuck in second gear all the way. He came out of the Curragh as if he had no race. He shows all the signs of immaturity and we think there is plenty more to come from him.
Arizona, Lancaster House and Royal Dornoch are possibles for the Group 2 Boomerang Stakes. Wichita may go for the seven-furlong race at Doncaster.
Cormorant, Monumental Valley and Persia are possibles for the Group 3 Kilternan Stakes. Tiger Moth is another who may go there. He had a nice long break since his Irish Derby second and we think 10-12 furlongs on good ground is his thing. He has a bit of class, we don’t see him as a Leger horse.
We have a couple of fillies in here too, including Ennistymon. She didn’t get home over one mile and six the last day, because the tempo was not strong enough and she had done too much early. She didn’t settle in the Irish Oaks either.
Joseph and Donnacha both have good fillies for the Moyglare Stud Stakes, as have lots of other trainers. We might run Divinely, Mother Earth and More Beautiful. Divinely [won a Group 3 over a mile last time out] does everything like her sister Found, though they don’t look similar.
Everyone raved about More Beautiful after her debut win over five furlongs, so we went for the Queen Mary but it didn’t work. Maybe her first run was deceiving and it could be that she will come back to her best when stepped up to seven furlongs.
Keats and Kipling are two in the handicaps that could be on reasonable marks. Keats is not really exposed yet and Kipling has only had two runs back after a long layoff. He got tired in a stop-start race at Roscommon and then he won an ordinary maiden well at Navan.