Curragh Sunday Preview: The Group One National Stakes at the Curragh tomorrow has been dominated by the licence holder at Ballydoyle and there is no-one who can match that remarkable record in this Laing O'Rourke-sponsored event.
Vincent O'Brien won it 15 times in a sequence that started with Sir Ivor while his successor Aidan O'Brien will be bidding for his seventh win in the race.
Aidan's two-year-olds have not been anywhere near as dominant as in seasons gone by, a factor due to a change in training emphasis rather than any shortage of ammunition.
Holy Roman Emperor has, however, been none of the busiest of his age group in the yard and this will be his fifth racecourse appearance.
The one blot on his record was his failure to get into the money in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot but the major factor involved there was "greenness" as he raced up the centre of the course he then proceeded to wander across the track giving away a lot of ground.
Kieren Fallon, as is his wont in these situations, was quick to realise that all chance of a placing had gone and eased him up.
Back home he rehabilitated his reputation in the Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks Railway Stakes, the race that preceded the Irish Derby. Held up behind Fallon produced him late to beat the smart Drayton by three-parts of a length.
Aidan O'Brien then put him aside for the Independent Waterford Wedgwood Phoenix Stakes which nowadays has moved from its original home at the Phoenix Park via Leopardstown to the Curragh.
This was something of a grudge match as Brian Smart's Hellvelyn, his conqueror in the Coventry Stakes came in search of a confirmation win. The tables were decisively turned asd Holy Roman Emperor sprinted away to win by almost two lengths.
The soft ground at Deauville thwarted O'Brien's desire of a Group One double in the Prix Morny and he was a late withdrawal. It is not so much the question of the ground where tomorrow's race is concerned but rather that O'Brien's former boss, Jim Bolger, throws down the gauntlet with Teofilo, an unbeaten three-time winner whose form stands up well after the fast-finishing second of his Curragh victim Eagle Mountain in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster.
Teofilo's last success was in a race named after Galileo and it evoked a highly flattering comment from Bolger that this was the best two-year-old he had ever trained.
This promises to be a cracker and if Holy Roman Emperor delivers, as I think he will, there will be a sizeable cut in his ante post odds for next year's 2,000 Guineas.
SELECTIONS: 1-40 - Friendly Giant. 2-10 - Brave Tin Soldier (double). 2-40 - Lend A Grand. 3-10 - Holy Roman Emperor (nap). 3-40 - Ivan Denisovich. 4-10 - Miss Una. 4-40- Man On The Nile.
