Aidan O’Brien and sons lead assault on St Leger and Irish Champion Stakes cards
In the week that the legendary Aidan O’Brien openly discussed a potential changing of the guard in the pecking order of Irish racing in the not too distant future, Family O’Brien looks set for another potentially dominant display in Group 1 feature races on both sides of the Irish Sea, writes Paul Alster.
Reflecting on the already astonishing amount of top level successes of sons Joseph and Donnacha, O’Brien admitted he felt that his boys – both former Irish champion jockeys in their time – are “going to stamp us over very shortly” and pick up the mantle of top dog enjoyed for so long by the record breaking 56-year-old trainer who took over at Ballydoyle from one of the all-time legends of world racing, Vincent O’Brien, back in 1996.
The second weekend in September has so often proved fruitful for Aidan O’Brien, winning the final British classic of the season, the Group 1 Betfred St Leger at Doncaster, a remarkable nine times, including the last three successive renewals. Twelve months ago it was the turn of Scandinavia to land the world’s oldest classic race before this season going on to prove himself the outstanding Cup horse of the current crop with wins at Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood.
Derby winner Christmas Day, along with Pierre Bonard, Action, and the filly Amelia Aerhart, give O’Brien another very strong hand in the race, but heavy market support has seen Joseph O’Brien’s progressive Enceladus, winner of the 1m4f Group 3 Gordon Stakes at Goodwood last time, usurp Christmas Day as marginal 9/4 favourite. Joseph also has a lively second-string himself in the shape of the upwardly mobile Highwayman, one of the few in the contest already proven at the trip. He was impressive when winning in listed company at Leopardstown last month.
With Andrew Balding’s Hatteen, runner-up in a Goodwood handicap last time out, the shortest priced British-trained runner in the eleven-horse field, the odds are heavily in favour of an Irish winner of the race once again bearing one or other of the O’Brien family names.
Over in Ireland itself, it’s Champions Weekend, a star studded two-day festival that spans first Leopardstown on Saturday, then the Curragh on Sunday. Just minutes after crowning the St Leger winner at Doncaster, they will be loading the stalls for the Group 1 Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron Stakes at Leopardstown in which some of Europe’s very best fillies will do battle over a mile.
Yet again, Aidan O’Brien has a very strong hand with his 1000 Guineas heroine True Love joined by the Irish 1000 Guineas winner and stable companion Precise, who went on to win the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot in June. Precise has been beaten twice since then by the Andrew Balding-trained Blue Bolt, a really progressive and very talented Juddmonte-owned filly. She is currently favourite to extend her unbeaten seasonal streak to five following her latest defeats of Precise in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket’s July meeting, and again over that rival in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville in France. The rematch could produce another thriller.
The outstanding race on Saturday though will surely be the Group 1 Kingdom Of Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes (Leopardstown 5:00) in which Andrew Balding will again be hoping to steal the O’Brien thunder as he sends his last-gasp Juddmonte International Stakes hero Item back into battle against Aidan’s Constitution River, only third on the Knavesmire three weeks ago. Constitution River, an impressive winner of the Group 1 Coral Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in July having previously landed the French Derby at Chantilly, will be joined in the line-up by stable companions Hawk Mountain, and last year’s Epsom Derby hero, Lambourn.
The International Stakes rematch will include Ed Walker’s high-class Almaqam, caught in the very last stride at York by Item and doubtless out for revenge, while the O’Brien clan will also add Donnacha’s Eclipse Stakes runner-up, A Boy Named Siouxsie into the mix for what could turn into a race for the ages.
An across-the-card Christmas Day-Constitution River Aidan O’Brien double would likely leave the bookies squealing, but with so many other bullets to fire at this weekend’s main targets – let’s not even discuss the possibility of a hatful of Group 1 winners at the Curragh on Sunday – the O’Brien family name will surely be up in lights once again. Quite for how long 56-year-old Aidan will hold bragging rights over his two sons remains to be seen, but one way or another, the family will likely dominate Irish, British, and international racing in one form or another for many decades to come.
Paul Alster has broadcast and reported on the British racing industry for four decades as a commentator, journalist, TV and radio presenter, betting correspondent, SP Returner, tipster and form analyst, among other things.