Aidan O'Brien with Auguste Rodin in the Doncaster winners' enclosure

QIPCO Guineas Festival preview: Aidan O'Brien ready to launch big guns

By David Ord

Horse Racing

Thu May 04, 2023 · 3y ago

Aidan O’Brien is responsible for the top two in the market for Saturday’s QIPCO 2000 Guineas and admits Newmarket is the only time they’ll ever meet.

In the red corner is Auguste Rodin, brilliant winner of the Futurity at Doncaster on his final start at two. That was over a mile and in very testing ground. He’s bred to thrive over middle-distances and the Triple Crown has been whispered in many a quarter over the winter months.

Saturday’s first Classic of the season is likely to be the toughest for him to win. Will he have the speed to see off the rest on what seems sure to be final start at a mile?

"Auguste Rodin will go up in trip definitely and Saturday will tell us a lot about Little Big Bear and whether he’s going to stay a mile or move back. It’s going to be very interesting and informative for us – and everyone else,” O’Brien mused in a Great British Racing press call on Wednesday.

Auguste Rodin's biggest performance to date came at Doncaster in October and O'Brien is adamant he was so impressive despite the heavy going, and not because of it.

“We were very worried about running him in that type of ground at Doncaster last autumn, it got very soft that day and he’s a beautiful-moving horse and definitely not a soft ground colt. That’s why we were delighted with him. We wanted to go there because we wanted to get experience into him but really, I suppose we thought we weren’t going to run on the way over there but were delighted we did and how he ran."

So is sticking to a mile going to prove too sharp for him at the weekend?

“It’s possible and we don’t know really. We’re very happy with what he’s doing and with what he’s doing at the moment, he’s a horse with loads of class. But we’re going to learn a lot about him on Saturday and he’s going to learn a lot too," the trainer said.

“He’s a horse who has always shown a lot of class in his work. Ryan (Moore) rode him in the February or March as a two-year-old and loved him - he was showing loads even then. That’s usually a very good sign."

Was there any temptation to take in a traditional Derby trial ahead of Epsom rather than roll the dice at Newmarket?

“We had to wait and see what his work was like and what everyone thought and if anyone wasn’t happen on any step along the road then that could have happened but so far everything has been good and is why we’re where we are.”

And what of the Triple Crown? A feat not completed since the majestic Nijinsky in 1970 although O’Brien went agonisingly close in 2012 when Camelot won the first two legs before finding Encke too strong down the Doncaster straight in the Leger.

“If we had a horse who could do it this year then he was obviously the one and we wanted to give him the chance if he was good enough,” he admitted.

“Obviously the Guineas is a great race – and a great race to start him in – if it went well then then the plan was always to go onto the Derby and if that went well, then we’ll see what the lads want to do.

“The Triple Crown is a very hard thing to do but one day it would be great to do it. He’s by Deep Impact, who obviously stayed very well, out of a Galileo mare, and we’re looking forward to it.

“They (Triple Crown horses) are very difficult to find. They have to have a lot of class and then pace enough to run in a Guineas. It’s really class they need to have – pure class that will give them stamina and speed – and we just thought at the moment he fits into the bracket really well.

“It would be incredible to do it one day – obviously you can only try and whatever happens, happens. But if you don’t try it definitely won’t happen. If we have that type of horse, then we don’t want to take away the chance."

Little Big Bear was hugely impressive in the Phoenix Stakes

It’s a different challenge facing stablemate Little Big Bear at Newmarket. There are no pretensions he’s going to stay a yard further than a mile but can the pace he showed at two, winning the Phoenix Stakes on his final start, be stretched out for another two furlongs?

“He’s by No Nay Never who is a big influence for speed. There’s stamina on the dam’s side but the sire is definitely a big influence for speed and he’s a big, powerful horse and we saw what he can do over five and six furlongs last season,” O'Brien said.

“He won over five at Royal Ascot and we know what kind of pace and preciousness that takes, and he had it. We went up to six wondering if he’d get it – and he did – and the way he got it winning the Phoenix he looked like he’d get seven standing on his ear. He hasn’t run in a long time but his work over that distance has been nice and he’s doing everything right really.”

The Curragh Group One was to prove his final start at two, a foot injury forcing connections to pull up stumps in September, but there are no worries he won’t be ready to do his best on Saturday.

“The setback he had meant we didn’t have any choice but to give him the time, but he’d been in full work a long time and got over that before the end of the year. He didn’t miss any time over the winter or through the spring which is a big help,” O’Brien added.

“It’s possible (he’ll get a mile) looking at him and if we didn’t think it was possible we wouldn’t let him take his chance. He’s a very laidback horse and doesn’t use any petrol really, only when he needs to, and that temperament is a big advantage.”

Meditate runs away with the Juvenile Fillies Turf (image courtesy of the Breeders' Cup)

Leading QIPCO 1000 Guineas hope Meditate already has a win over eight furlongs to her name in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf but the trainer admits that doesn’t mean she’s certain to get the trip at Newmarket on Sunday.

“We weren’t sure going to America she would stay and that was around a bend, so we took our time on her as it was her first time over a mile," he said. "We ran her over seven furlongs at the Curragh on very soft ground and rode her very forward. She ran a very good race, but Dermot’s filly (Tahirya) came and got her. We went to America and went up in trip again but she relaxed lovely and came home very well.

“There’s a big difference between a flat, round track in America and a straight mile like Newmarket and again we’ll learn a lot about her. She’s a very lazy worker at home, only shows you what she has to do and unless you stoke her up, she stays in second gear. We’re very happy with her work.”

To win the first fillies’ Classic she’ll need to reverse form not only with Tahirya, who beat her two-and-a-quarter lengths at the Curragh but Lezoo, three-quarters-of-a-length too strong on her next start at Newmarket.

However, O’Brien feels there are genuine grounds for optimism.

“In the Cheveley Park we felt we might have rushed her back a little from the Moyglare and felt in the Moyglare we might have made a bit too much use of her in the ground. We think they are two legitimate excuses, and it will be interesting."

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