2006

IT was one of the dwindling number of major prizes in Europe to have eluded Aidan O’Brien, but the Darley Irish Oaks finally came the Ballydoyle trainer’s way, and in some style, as Alexandrova simply outclassed her five opponents.

Fillies of the calibre of Shahtoush, Quarter Moon and Yesterday previously came up short for O’Brien in the fillies’ classic, but the brilliance of Alexandrova’s Epsom triumph was once again in evidence as she stamped herself as a filly of the very highest quality.

In becoming the third to do the Epsom/Curragh double since 1999, the daughter of Sadler’s Wells was giving Kieren Fallon his third success in the race, and afterwards he described her as “as good a filly as I’ve ridden”.

Only six horses lined up for the €400,000 contest, but Alexandrova still had to contend with some of the leading lights of her generation. In opposition were the Prix de Diane heroine Confidential Lady, the Epsom runner-up Rising Cross, and the Ribblesdale Stakes one-two, Mont Etoile and Scottish Stage.

Overpowering

Such was the overpowering authority of the winner’s performance that it came as no surprise to see quotes as low as 12/1 being passed around for October’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

“She’s electric the way she can turn it on; she’s got an unbelievable gear change. She has such speed that, whether they go fast or slow, it doesn’t matter to her. The way she moves you would think that she would prefer easier ground, but she’s so good that the ground doesn’t matter to her,” said a thrilled O’Brien.

“We will take it one race at a time with her, but you would be thinking about the Yorkshire Oaks. Kieren was very confident going out. If they were going to walk, he said that he was going to stand. He gave her an unbelievably cool ride. This was brilliant for Kieren. It helps keep him focused, and to keep a belief in himself, and it’s nice to know everyone is behind him,” added O’Brien.

Tribulations

Fallon has endured more than his share of tribulations over the last few weeks, having been charged with conspiracy to defraud punters the day after his Irish Derby triumph on Dylan Thomas. After he and Alexandrova returned to the winners’ enclosure they were accorded a particularly warm welcome, and afterwards Fallon remarked: “You need all these winners when things aren’t going well.”

[Alexandrova went on to win the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks. At stud she is dam of four winners, including Group 2 winners Alex My Boy (Dalakhani) and Somehow (Fastnet Rock), and the Group 3 winner Happen (War Front). She is grandam of the Group 1 winner Aspetar (Al Kazeem).

Kieren Fallon’s race-fixing trial collapsed in December 2007 when he and five others were acquitted by an Old Bailey jury on the directions of trial judge Mr Justice Forbes. He said there was no case to answer following defence submissions at the end of two months of prosecution evidence.

Aidan O’Brien has now won the Irish Oaks six times, winning it with Peeping Fawn in 2007, Moonstone in 2008, Bracelet in 2014, Seventh Heaven in 2016 and Snowfall last weekend]

Minister’s lukewarm welcome for report

1986

AFTER nearly four years, 154 meetings and at a cost of £68,697.67, the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Thoroughbred Horse Breeding Industry finally surfaced last Wednesday.

However, it was hardly a gala occasion. Report chairman Lord Killanin, along with six members of the Commission (four were attending Keeneland Sales in Kentucky), held a press conference in the gloomy conference room of Agriculture House.

A notable absentee was the Minister for Agriculture, Austin Deasy, who should at least have put in a brief appearance to accept the Report formally from Lord Killanin, and not give the impression that after 1,205 days of gestation it had joined the ‘also rans’.

The Department of Agriculture’s press release did little to imply that the Report would be actively dealt with in the near future when it said that: “The Minister will be giving consideration to the recommendations in the Report in light of the views put forward by the Commission of Inquiry and the horse breeding interests generally.

“He is, therefore, publishing the Report, without commitment on the part of the Government, in order to stimulate public debate on the issues raised.”

Chief recommendation

As leaked last month, the chief recommendation is the establishment of the Thoroughbred Industry Board, replacing the existing Racing Board, with a larger base “responsible for planning, financing and developing racing, and should have additional functions in relation to breeding”.

In all, the Report runs to 221 pages with 14 appendices, covering such diverse topics as the Irish National Stud, technical aspects of betting, the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1962, and the cleansing and disinfecting of horse boxes.

Priced at £7, it is worthy of perusal.

Osborne elected president

2006

META Osborne, a veterinary surgeon from Co Kildare, has been elected as president of the Veterinary Council.

Meta, who has served on the Council since 2000, is the first female to be elected as president of the Veterinary Council which was set up by statute 75 years ago. She is a daughter of the late Michael Osborne.

The Veterinary Council is the statutory body set up to regulate the veterinary profession. Meta’s professional interests centre on mare fertility work and, with her husband Dermot Cantillon, owns Tinnakill House Stud in Co Laois. She is also a member of the Turf Club and serves as a steward at a number of racecourses.

The Council also elected Frank McRory as deputy president.

The Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan, has appointed solicitor Fergus Gallagher to the Veterinary Council.