DONNACHA O’Brien got within a neck of winning the Coral-Eclipse (3.35) on his only attempt as a rider and it’s no longshot that he goes one better today with his first runner in the race as a trainer, A Boy Named Susie. Fittingly, he will be assisted by the man who beat him in the saddle on that occasion too.

It was back in 2018 that Oisin Murphy and Roaring Lion edged out O’Brien and Saxon Warrior in a tantalising duel. This time, the pair are on the same team, with the five-time champion jockey now back aboard the recent French Derby fourth.

There was a sense that the Starspangledbanner colt did not get a favourable bounce of the ball when running on from behind at Chantilly when last seen (ridden by Maxime Guyon then). He will get the chance to test his mettle against the Prix du Jockey Club 1-2 in a rematch this weekend, with Constitution River and Hawk Mountain helping form a strong Irish challenge in the £1 million feature (four of the seven runners are trained in Ireland, including the likely pace maker Flushing Meadows).

A Boy Named Susie’s form has been well advertised already this season. The form of his short-head second in last year’s Group 3 Eyrefield Stakes at Leopardstown was given quite the boost by the winner, Christmas Day, following up in the Derby at Epsom and posting a cracking second in last week’s Irish equivalent. A Boy Named Susie, who carries Ana O’Brien’s colours, also finished within a length of the same rival in the Ballysax Stakes earlier this season.

Speaking on a press call arranged by The Jockey Club this week, O’Brien said: “We always thought he was very, very good. He went to the Curragh, did a very impressive bit of work about three weeks before [his debut] and then went to Killarney and bolted up. We kind of got a bit excited then. His next two runs were disappointing with no obvious reasons, but he got a bit worked up before them both.

“After that, we got him back on track. He’s just probably taken a little bit more time to really be a high-class horse and that’s to be expected. I think in a few of his runs, you could say he’s arguably been unlucky. Part of that he probably does to himself, but I think with a smoother run, he could have won the Derby Trial early on in the year, won by Christmas Day. Obviously in the French Derby, he looked a tad unlucky.

Tactical approach

“He’s a little bit funny with his mouth; you have to have a soft pair of hands with him. If you put him into gear, it’s hard to get him out of it. So, the two options we’ve had so far with him is just let him relax and take our time or you could let him bowl along in front, but we haven’t done that yet. But I think he’s coming. Mentally, he’s starting to get it together and as he gets older, he’ll get easier to ride, I think.”

O’Brien, saddling a runner at Sandown for the first time today, has maximum respect for his father’s short-priced favourite, who finished two and three quarter lengths in front of him last time. However, there are a number of dangers.

“Constitution River looks a very good horse,” he said of the market leader. “Gethin looks a good horse, Saddadd the same. Hawk Mountain too - they’re very strong, proper Group 1 horses. It looks like a proper strong Group 1.

River on a roll

“Constitution River looks very good. I thought he looked smart at Chester. I felt he really did things the hard way in France. He used plenty of petrol early, stuck wide and didn’t look particularly comfortable on the track, and he still found a way to win. Horses like that, they’re able to win ugly - it’s often a sign of a real good horse. We’ve seen champions all throughout the years be able to do that. We’re still going to take them on and do our best.”

Asked for his reflections on the Prix du Jockey Club and whether it was a satisfactory renewal relative to the run his representative got, O’Brien added: “It’s a hard one to know. We kind of hoped that we could follow Ryan [Moore on Constitution River] out of the stalls. I think the pace was pretty hot early and I think that’s kind of overlooked.

“Dad’s horses, they went very quick early from wide draws. You look at the horses that followed them, that sat fourth and fifth - they finished nowhere in the end. Dad’s were able to sustain the pace.

“Looking at the race, you’d say, ‘Oh, we were a bit unlucky because we flashed home’, but I wouldn’t say it’s a guarantee that any horse that used that much petrol to go with them early would have finished as strong as what he did.”

Three-year-olds have won the last five renewals of the Coral-Eclipse, with Aidan O’Brien going for a fifth win in six years after plundering the prize with St Mark’s Basilica, Paddington, City Of Troy and Delacroix during that period.

On his father’s remarkable run this year, Donnacha added: “I’m as competitive as anyone but it’s so tough to beat dad and Joseph. I think everyone in Ireland is kind of the same. We’re happy to see them go onto the world stage and beat everyone else because it kind of shows what we’re competing against every day.”