RACING:AIDAN O'BRIEN completed another clean sweep of the Curragh Guineas festival's Group One prizes yesterday when Misty For Me turned Newmarket form right around with an exciting defeat of her stable companion Together in the Ethihad Airways Irish 1,000 Guineas.
Misty For Me was over 17 lengths behind Together in the English Guineas but Roderic O’Connor was beaten nearly twice that far in the colts classic at Newmarket and still memorably managed to reverse that against Dubawi Gold in Saturday’s 2,000 Guineas.
O’Brien’s son Joseph, 18 today, was on board Roderic O’Connor in an emotional family victory and in the midst of notching a 25th Irish classic success yesterday, So You Think’s 1 to 7 solo-show in the Tattersalls Gold Cup had to fight for attention that it would normally have commanded as of right.
The champion trainer completed the same Group One hat-trick in 2008 but big races come thick and fast in the upcoming weeks and O’Brien faces a busy few days formulating classic plans for both Epsom and Chantilly.
Roderic O’Connor remains a possible for either the Epsom or French Derby having received a clean bill-of-health yesterday and Misty For Me could join her stable companion Wonder Of Wonders in the Oaks at Epsom.
She was cut to 8 to 1 for the English classic after beating Together by three quarters of a length yesterday and O’Brien saddled Imagine to complete the same classic double 10 years ago.
“She is extremely genuine and really put her head down and tried when I needed her to,” said jockey Seamus Heffernan who was securing a sixth Irish classic success.
“She’s always been a very good filly but she just didn’t fire at all in Newmarket and we were very puzzled by that,” O’Brien added. “The plan coming here was that she would go to Epsom while the second filly might go to the Coronation. But the winner also has the choice of the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) in Paris.”
As with Roderic O’Connor, the stewards inquired into Misty For Me’s improvement in form compared to Newmarket and accepted the explanations. Ryan Moore was on the runner-up but his increasing role within the Coolmore operation was sealed with a Group One success on So You Think that confirmed the huge impression that the Australian superstar made on his European debut earlier in the month.
Bookmaker reaction to his sauntering defeat of Campanologist and Famous Name was to make him favourite for both the King George and the Arc later in the year although his next start will be in Royal Ascot’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
O’Brien stressed the importance of Moore getting a sit on So You Think before Ascot and also that he was not looking too far ahead in terms of riding arrangements in later targets.
With the Derby and Arc hero Workforce set to return to action later in the week, Moore could yet be faced with a dilemma as to which horse he would ride if they clashed in a race like the King George. “We’re in a very lucky position that we have so many good jockeys. Different jockeys have different things that suit different horses. We’re lucky to have so many outside jockeys available to us. We’ll take it one step at a time,” O’Brien said.
Even against a Derby and Arc winner, So You Think would be a hard horse to get off of and the trainer added: “He’s deceptive in that you think he is going no gallop but then you look at the others and they’re off the bridle. We’re very lucky to have him. He’s an incredible horse.”
The Tattersalls Gold Cup was just a second top-flight victory that Moore has ridden for Ballydoyle – Beethoven’s 2009 Dewhurst Stakes was the first – but he also missed out on a Group Three success for O’Brien yesterday when Moriarty could manage only second to Alexander Pope in the Gallinule Stakes. The French Derby is also an option for the winner who was bred by the legendary former champion jockey Lester Piggott.
