classic pair simply the best - o'brien

Aidan O'Brien says his Breeders' Cup Classic contenders Duke Of Marmalade and Henrythenavigator are as good as any colts he's ever trained.

The pair go into Saturday night's monster showdown at Santa Anita with the highest of praise from their Ballydoyle handler.

"These two colts are as good colts as we've ever had," he said. "They have tough constitutions. They both handle fast ground. Obviously, the Duke stays very well. We're not sure about Henry, but he looks like he could get a mile-and-a-quarter.

"I don't think we've had two better colts than those. But they've raced hard all season and they haven't missed a dance and they haven't sidestepped a race. Even with Henry when the ground was on the slow side, and we maybe should have pulled back, but he still ran and ran well."

Among O'Brien's past Breeders' Cup contenders are two-time Turf winner High Chaparral, Classic runner-up Giant's Causeway and Mile runner-up Rock of Gibraltar. But the trainer doesn't think any of them are better than this pair.

"I don't think we've probably ever had two better colts as racehorses," he said. "Look at their records, both of them. They've run in Group 1 after Group 1 after Group 1. Henry was a Coventry winner and the other horse ran with an injury all last year, and was just beaten in the Queen Elizabeth. I couldn't say, we've had two horses with constitutions and ability better than those."

One thing O'Brien won't be doing is predicting victory for either of his colts, especially with the mighty Curlin (7-5 morning line favourite) lying in wait on Saturday night.

"We don't expect anything to happen," he said. "Usually when you expect something to happen or really want something to happen it usually doesn't happen. If it happens it will be great. They are two very serious horses."

Duke Of Marmalade finished seventh in the Arc on his last start, but O'Brien says he was pleased with the horse after Longchamp.

"Obviously, you'd say a mile-and-a-half on the grass might not be an ideal (prep) for the Classic, but the Arc was there and it's such a prestigious race and worth so much money, we felt we had to let him take his chance when the ground was OK," O'Brien said.

"He's in good form and the minute Johnny (Murtagh) came in after the Arc he said he pulled up real good. Always, the lad's first impressions are what you like to hear. He was very happy. He didn't come in for one minute and say he was gone or down. If he did, you'd be worried. He said he never really got into top gear."