Ballydoyle’s jockeys are now very much under the microscope
What he would have seen was Johnny Murtagh dismounting from first-timer, Mesariya, his initial winner in his new role as number one jockey to the Aga Khan.
Murtagh, of course, walked away from Ballydoyle at the end of last season and has not been replaced, nor is he likely to be, apparently, for the current campaign.
He had just done what he does best, kept it simple, challenged towards the outer in the straight and the daughter of Sinndar won without knowing she had even been in a race. It was the perfect start and had to do her confidence a power of good.
Behind in seventh spot was O’Brien’s Wonder Of Wonders, a strong market order in the morning, strong on track as well and carrying some very heavy responsibilities.
She was partnered by Seamus Heffernan, a more than capable pilot who will, however, not look back on this with any great relish.
Truth to tell, Heffernan got into more pockets than Fagin. Wonder Of Wonders was locked away throughout the final half mile and never got any sort of run.
Heffernan’s ride was simply one of the main talking points of the afternoon. And so with no top man, so to speak, in the Ballydoyle corner, at least domestically, Heffernan, Colm O’Donoghue and Joseph O’Brien are going to come increasingly under the microscope as the campaign progresses.
All of that aside, however, Ballydoyle has made a cracking start and their horses appear to be well forward. That is mildly surprising, because we have just emerged from the most awful winter.
O’Brien set down a marker at the opening meeting of the season at the Curragh on March 20 when his first runner, Sing Softly, won a 27-runner maiden.
And it has continued on nicely from there, with Master Of Hounds and Cape Blanco running blinders at Meydan last Saturday.
Then on Sunday, notwithstanding Wonder Of Wonders, there was further evidence of the well-being of the Ballydoyle inmates.
Empowering stepped up markedly on her juvenile form to win the Group 3 trial for fillies, landing a tasty gamble, 12-1 to 11-2.
In the process, she made a mockery of her rating of 84. Empowering beat Wild Wind by a length and three parts and that was some inspired touch, considering she was rated no less than 19lbs inferior to Wild Wind. Oh, and Joseph O’Brien, on Empowering, put up 1lb overweight to boot.
The handicapper took a dim view of the result and raised her by 20lbs. I doubt, though, that those who plunged will lose any sleep, on the basis Empowering will not be strutting her stuff in handicaps any time soon.
The big disappointment for Ballydoyle, and plenty of us as well, at Leopardstown was the defeat of Apache in the concluding maiden.
He had looked a promising enough sort in his only run as a juvenile and stepping up to ten furlongs looked ideal for the son of Galileo.
But, horror of horrors, after appearing to be travelling powerfully early in the straight, he failed to get to grips with 33-1 shot, Paul Deegan’s newcomer, Best Hello, going down by a length and a half.
There were no excuses and the best horse won on the day. But how could this happen?
I mean, Best Hello was returned at 33-1 and didn’t seem to have a friend in the world. But that didn’t tell the entire story, not by a long shot.
What price do you think he was on Betfair? The answer, a staggering 179-1. Now surely, someone, somewhere knew he could run, at least enough to warm himself.
If they did, they must have kept it to themselves, thus providing bookmakers and layers on the exchanges with a bonanza.
Perhaps, this maiden was a terrible contest, but the gut feeling is that certainly was not the case and it will be most interesting to see how it works out in the coming weeks.
